Walgreens Boots Alliance and Rite Aid recently extended the agreement end date for their merger transaction until late January, with the expectation that the deal will get the Federal Trade Commission’s OK in early 2017. As WBA’s store divestiture talks with the FTC roll on, Deutsche Bank Securities analyst George Hill shed some light on
Here’s the poop about Poo-Pourri: They know the deal with social media marketing. Since launching Poo-Pourri Before-You-Go Toilet Spray in 2007, the company (Poo-Pourri Scentsible LLC) has drawn more than 200 million combined YouTube views. And this week it launched a new production company, Number Two Productions, that has seen the first video of a
Not much else about the progress of the Walgreens-Rite Aid merger came out in yesterday’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call by Walgreens Boots Alliance. A swirl of media reports in recent months have gone back and forth about the number of store divestitures and whether the Federal Trade Commission will end up signing off on the
It was just a blip — maybe you missed it — but health care was indeed mentioned in last night’s presidential debate in Las Vegas. And it wasn’t Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump that brought it up. During the discussion on the economy, moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News tried to get the candidates to
Apparently, Kroger might not become the enabler for Federal Trade Commission approval of the Walgreens-Rite Aid merger. The New York Post reported late Tuesday that Kroger may be taking a pass on buying Walgreens and/or Rite Aid stores that would need to be divested by Walgreens Boots Alliance to gain FTC clearance for its $17
An effort to establish a national e-prescribing platform is under way in Canada. Canada Health Infoway, a national digital health organization, has issued a request-for-proposal to health IT companies for PrescribeIT, a new e-prescribing service for the nation’s health care system. Infoway said it’s looking for a tech partner or consortium to help design, build
Some consumers are making trade-offs as they try to solve the cost-quality-access equation for health care, according to CVS Health. This week, CVS posted some key findings from a poll of 2,000 registered voters that it conducted last month. Probably the most brow-raising concerns the hard choices that consumers are making. In CVS’ survey, 28%
Customers are hungry for beauty care and, with the rollout of its Beauty Differentiation store concept, Walgreens is positioning itself as the place to get it, according to Lauren Brindley, group VP and GMM for beauty and personal care. “We’re trying to bring in different brands for different customers to ensure that, as we build our
It looks like one divestment possibility for Walgreens Boots Alliance isn’t panning out as it works with the Federal Trade Commission to gain antitrust clearance for its acquisition of Rite Aid. The New York Post reported this week that WBA hasn’t been able to sway private equity firms to buy a chunk of Walgreens and/or
The rollout of CVS Pharmacy departments in Target stores is bringing enhanced pharmacy services to the discount retail chain. But it seems that a number of Target customers are lamenting a now-missing feature of its pharmacy: the distinctive, uniquely shaped red prescription bottle. An Associated Press report yesterday about these customers’ discontent triggered a flood
Supercenter retailer Meijer continues to be a driver in expanding pharmacy’s health care role. Under a partnership announced this week, Meijer pharmacies will provide hypertension management services for University of Michigan Health System patients. U-M said its patients can go to a participating Meijer pharmacy for a blood pressure check and assessment. If their blood
Maybe there’s some stuff that people just don’t really want to buy online. That’s one of the undercurrents to the the TABS Analytics Fourth Annual Food and Beverage Study, which concluded that online grocery shopping hasn’t caught on. In TABS survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 75, only 4.5% of respondents said they
Kmart reportedly plans to close 64 more stores by later this year. Published reports said the stores slated to be shut are in 28 states and that parent company Sears Holdings Corp. had recently informed Kmart employees of the planned closures. Sears Holdings had not announced the store closings, which reports said are expected to
Food and drug retail veteran Bryan Pugh — most recently of Fred’s and, before that, Walgreens — has shifted to a new retailing segment with his move to Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores. The fabric and craft specialty retailer announced that Pugh has joined the company as executive vice president of stores and store operations,
