One thing I know for sure is I never want to own a business that has anything to do with pets. The negative reviews about this place are almost comical what people (some of whom live 1000 miles away) can find to complain about, and some I suspect who have never even bought anything here.
Here's my two cents. I've been coming here off and on since I moved to the neighborhood 12 years ago. I can find things here I can't find in other places. At first glance it may seem their prices are a little high but the reality is that they are selling more premium brands that you won't find at your supermarket or mega-discount store. It's my choice to come here and pay the price that it's their choice to charge, it's stupid to shop somewhere you can't afford to shop.
Their selection is more like what I've seen at the local co-op in the Oklahoma panhandle than what I would expect to find within the city limits of the 6th largest city in America. Who can complain about that?
The customer service is mercurial, I've had a few polite and helpful salespeople and other ones who were counting down the seconds until their shift ended. Most times they never look up from their iPhones when you walk in the door to even acknowledge you exist. So what, I can name 50 other retail stores I shop in that I could say the same about. 95% of the time people treat you like you treat them. 'Nuff said.
They have plenty of parking and the Cave Creek Rd store is easy to get to without fighting traffic.
As far as complaints from me I have two. Pet Food Depot's entire claim to fame is being a locally-owned mom and pop specialty store. Yet I can't count one single time when I asked a salesperson a question that they didn't vaguely point their finger off in some direction and say "it's over there". I get (and expect) that level of non-service at Walmart. If I'm going to choose to make the trip to a small specialty store and pay top dollar I expect that clerk to move his/her ass and walk over with me and personally help me make the right choice for my needs.
My other issue is their website is definitely not user friendly (but I understand they are trying to fix that). Right now, as soon as you log in you are faced with a popup demanding personal information then another popup immediately pops up OVER the first one with some other breathless message. I have a standard way of dealing with websites that won't let me in until I sign up first ... I leave and never go back again. Attention owners of Pet Food Depot - you're a local two-store operation, you've been sold an over-fancy over-techie website by some slick IT huckster. Stop trying to pretend you're Facebook and drop all the slick come-ons at your website!