PL Cat Litter Breaks
$100 Million Dollar Mark
By Sean Ryan

Food Lion, Shop Rite and Wegmans give a dog a bone, while Albertson's, Big Y and Trader Joe's bring ever-popular cat litter advances to an accepting public. Trader Joe's also sells its cat treats in vitamin bottles.

Cat litter sales have steadily increasing the past few years, thanks to advances popular with consumers such as scoopable litter. The two gallon sizes propels it into nine-digit sales.

Private label consumers are picking up their litter. More and more are joining the PL bandwagon for cat litter, especially now that scoopable cat litter is becoming a standard item, for both retailers and customers.

Cat litter is a major private label seller, with a 4.1% boost in sales from last year, breaking the $100 million mark and earning a 13.7% share.

The NEW flag is hanging off the shelf for the two-gallon size of scooping cat litter from Big Y, Springfield, MA. It's $6.29.

Wal-Mart's Maxximum Nutrition and Ol' Roy is joined by Wegman's Super Premium dog food and multi-blend cat food, Safeway's Gourmet cat food, Price Chopper's High Protein cat food, and Food Lion's Lamb Meal and Rice Formula dog food.

Food Lion, Salisbury, NC, gives consumers several choices in two-gallon sizes. Scented and unscented varieties are $4.39 each. A hard clumping formula, advertised through both a blue starburst on the yellow label as well as a continuous banner along the label top and bottom reading "Hard Clumping," is $4.99.

Albertson's, Boise, ID, gives customers an alternative to Arm and Hammer with its Baking Soda Scoopable litter.

Fred's Dollar Stores, Memphis, TN, offer about the lowest price around for a two-gallon size of litter: $3. The two-gallon size is fast becoming the standard size for this item.

Trader Joe's, South Pasadena, CA, dares its customers with a new chemical- and silica-free form of litter: pine. A 7-pound bag, a month's supply, is $2.99. The bag comes with instructions on how to switch litter boxes from traditional litter to pine without cats rebelling.

Mixed Moods About Foods

Dry cat food had a slightly positive year, edging up 0.3% in sales to $79.4 million and a 7.9% share. Canned cat food had a slight dip, dropping 1.5% to $89.8 million and a 8.9% share.

Canned dog food had an up year, rising 5.6% to $76.1 million, and 11.2% of sales. Dry dog food, on the other hand, dropped 4.6% in sales, although it still sells roughly twice as much as canned dog food, with $141.2 million and an 8.7% share. And that's without the Ol' Roy presence from Wal-Mart, Bentonville, AR.

Last everyone heard, Ol' Roy was one of the most popular dog food brand in the country. Wal-Mart's since ceased to reveal its scanner data for sales, but it's a safe assumption that the popular brand is still mighty popular with dog owners.

A fifty pound bag of Ol' Roy is $12.97. The price is about as low a price per pound of dog food as a customer will find. A package redesign is advertised with a "New Look! Same Great Food!" starburst. Maxximum Nutrition, Wal-Mart's take on higher tier dog foods like Iams, is $6.27 for an eight-pound bag.

Fleming, Oklahoma City, OK, puts a "No Soy" ribbon above the descriptions of its 13.2 oz dog food cans. Kash n' Karry, Tampa, FL, also has a No Soy label on its 5.5 oz. dog food cans.

Winn Dixie, Jacksonville, FL, has its Gourmet Dog Food in special Senior formulations for 5.5 oz. cans. Regular cans get the Sun Belt brand name.

Fred's offers two kinds of canned dog food. Chopped beef, chopped chicken and chunky beef is 39 cents a can. Chicken, beef and liver flavored dog food is 25 cents a can. The 39 cent cans are slightly more ornate.

A 20-lb. bag of Munchy Morsels dry food from Kmart, Troy, MI, Kibbles 'n Bits is $11.27 for a 17.6 lb. bag.

A 4-lb. bag of dog food with gravy (when warm water is added) is $2.39 at Hannaford, Scarborough, ME.

Wet Food Beyond the Can

Albertson's, Boise, ID, has brought its wet cat food into stand up pouches, similar to new packaging for tuna and Whiskas brand cat food. The private label is labeled as 'super premium', and the ease of opening is sure to appeal to older cat owners. and is 2 for 89 cents, although a recent sale had the pouches at 4/$1.00. Each pouch holds 3 oz., the same size as those small gourmet cans.

Sensational, the premium label from Stop & Shop, Boston, MA, offers those exact same small gourmet cans, which Stop and Shop call Ultra Gourmet. It offers flavors like Trout Dinner.

The premium cat food from Safeway, Pleasanton, CA, gets the Safeway Select name. Different formulations are available, such as Senior (for cats 7 and older) and Special Diet (low dietary magnesium). Cans of the food regardless of formulation are 3/$1.27, but on a recent sale at a 3/99-cent price.

Publix, Lakeland, FL, understands that pet owners like to buy in bulk. That's why Publix has shrink-wrapped four of its cat food cans in a matching plastic wrapper for 89 cents. Individual Publix cans are 3/87 cents.

Wegmans, Rochester, NY, markets its premium line of cat food in big 14 oz cans, a rarity for canned cat food. Each can has a "Veterinarian Recommended" stamp on it.

Price Chopper, Schenectady, NY, offers dry cat food in bags for $2.19. Aldi, Batavia, NY, charges $2.99.

Cat treats come in a bottle much like vitamins at Trader Joe's. Cat owners don't need to worry abut stale treats with a screw on lid. A 3 oz. bottle is $1.29. Cat treats are a much smaller market than dog biscuits, with just over half a million dollars' worth in private label.

Dog biscuits, on the other hand, sold $68.4 million in the past year, along with doggie jerky strips and other dog snacks. It's a 5% sales drop from last year, but a 12.2% share of the market.

Shop Rite, Elizabeth, NJ, has its dog biscuits in a small, large and extra large sizes, as well as Flavored Treats, which are smaller than the Small. Big counts of the bigger biscuits are $3.29, while the smaller ones clock in at $1.89. Wegmans offers a change from regular biscuits with peanut butter flavored biscuits, in the shape of peanuts.

Shaw's Supermarkets, West Bridgewater, MA, has not only bird seed, but a host of bird seeds. Cracked corn, thistle seed, block oil sunflower, and wild bird seed are some of the mixes offered for bird lovers looking to attract certain species but not all.