Pet Valu franchise cost in Canada

The price on the franchise site

The “Costs & Criteria” text on Pet Valu’s franchise opportunity pages (the archived copies of March and April 2026 carry identical wording) says the price of a new store “ranges from $613,000 to $874,000 including all furniture, fixtures, leasehold improvements, equipment, opening inventory order and initial franchise fee”. It adds that “the price will vary based on the region, store size, whether it is brand new or existing location, and additional store features”, that the typical store is 3,500-5,000 square feet, and that the range “does not include applicable taxes”. It is a range for a new store, not the price of an existing one, and a listing’s asking price is what its advertiser wrote, not a valuation.

A different set of figures in the filing

Pet Valu Holdings Ltd.’s Annual Information Form, a separate document with its own basis and dates, says the average investment for a new franchised store opened between 2023 and 2025 was $0.7 million, “range of $0.45 million to $0.8 million, depending on size and geography”, and that historically franchisees could expect to invest about $0.56 million, a figure it says is the average for stores opened from 2017 to 2023. Its target model assumes a store of 3,000 to 4,000 square feet. These figures are not the franchise site’s range, and this page does not reconcile them. Ask Pet Valu which applies to the store you are considering.

What the fee is, and what is not published

The filing says that on signing a franchise agreement “a franchisee will pay an initial franchise fee”, and that the franchisee must buy leasehold improvements, equipment, fixtures and signage from designated or approved suppliers. No page we read states the fee’s amount, so the cross-brand fee table on this site has no Pet Valu row, and the table above marks the row as not published. That is not the same as saying the fee is zero or unfixed. No liquid-capital or net-worth requirement was on the pages read either.

Ongoing payments

The filing says that in Fiscal 2025 almost all Pet Valu, Paulmac’s Pets and Bosley’s by Pet Valu franchisees paid a royalty of 6% of non-grooming gross sales per store and 1% of grooming services sales per store, subject to limited relief programs. A promotion fund contribution is a percentage of gross sales up to a specified limit per store, and the percentages and limits may vary by banner. These franchisees also pay a “Technology as a Service” fee for in-store hardware and software and their upkeep, with no amount given. The royalty, promotion fee and technology fee fall due at the same time. Chico franchisees paid a variety of royalties, and Chico terms differ, so those rates are not Pet Valu’s.

Rent and refurbishing

The filing says almost all franchisees under the main banners sublease Company-approved premises from Pet Valu or an affiliate. Where a sublease applies, the franchisee pays the greater of the base rent or a specified percentage of gross sales, and the portion above base rent is called Percentage Rent. A franchisee also pays common area maintenance, insurance, utilities and real estate taxes, and a default under the lease or sublease counts as a default under the franchise agreement. Refurbishing to the franchisor’s then-current standards is at the franchisee’s expense, although Pet Valu may choose to co-invest. Ask for the sublease before you rely on any figure.

Disclosure before you sign

Where a franchise statute applies, the disclosure document arrives before any signing or payment, and it, not this page, is the document to rely on for fees. Ontario’s Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000 sets “not less than 14 days” (s.5(1)). Late, deficient or missing disclosure can give a franchisee a right to rescind, and that right runs on a deadline, so keep the date it reaches you.