Lowe's is opening Petco shops inside its stores to woo 'nesting' millennials who spend money on homes and pets

• Lowe's is partnering with Petco to open mini-shops in its stores.
• These shops will stock Petco products and offer grooming and vaccination services.

Home improvement chain Lowe's is expanding into the world of pets through a new partnership with Petco.

From next month, new Petco shops will appear in a select group of Lowe's stores. The first Lowe's store to trial the concept is located in Alamo Ranch, Texas. Other locations in Texas and North and South Carolina will follow, according to USA Today.

Lowe's is hoping that the new partnership will enable it to capture a larger pool of consumers.

Marisa Thalberg, Lowe's chief brand and marketing officer, told USA Today that 60% of the people the company talked with "indicated they'd be more likely to shop at a home improvement retailer if they could also purchase all their pet needs in the same place."

The new partnership will bring "the best of Petco products, services, and expertise underneath the larger roof of Lowe's," she said. This includes pet food and toys along with grooming and vaccination services.

The tie-up also aims to woo the millennial shopper, an important customer base that is buying and investing in homes and adopting pets.

Experts say the pandemic spurred this generation into the "nesting" mindset as new remote working opportunities spurred them to flee big cities and buy homes in suburbs.

"People are spending more time in their homes, investing to make their homes better places to live and better places for their pets to live in as well," Nick Konat, Petco's CMO, said in an interview with USA Today.

According to Apartment List's Homeownership study, reported by Insider's Hillary Hoffower, millennials led all generations in homebuying in 2020.