July 5, 2021 by David Pinto
July 5, 2021, Opinion
It’s not customary for a publication to tout the editorial relevance of a sister publication, one authored under the same editorial staff. It’s neither customary nor wise. Such praise, most journalists believe, is best left to an outside authority or, at the least, to a supposedly impartial observer. Still, every so often, an article appears
June 7, 2021 by David Pinto
Hy-Vee, Randy Edeker
June 7, 2021, Opinion
It occasionally happens — some may say not often enough — that America’s mass retailers reach out, individually or collectively — to recognize the very credible reporting turned in by the bastioned retail trade press. Mostly, however, the trade publishing subsection of the mass retailing community toils in oblivion, content for the occasional word of
May 17, 2021 by David Pinto
Alex Gourlay, WBA
May 17, 2021, Opinion
Reports from sources close to Walgreens Boots Alliance to the effect that the company’s talented and personable senior executive Alex Gourlay was, for now at least, preparing for retirement brought a sharper reaction from the chain drug community than so important a transition usually elicits. The response was primarily the natural result of the affection
April 26, 2021 by David Pinto
NACDS
April 26, 2021, Opinion
As we, among others of lesser renown, have repeatedly pointed out, this year’s NACDS Annual Meeting will differ from those that have preceded it. For one obvious reason. It will be conducted virtually. That being the case, we thought we would help you out by offering — indeed insisting on — five appointments you, whether
April 5, 2021 by David Pinto
Karen Lynch CVS
April 5, 2021, Opinion
The chain drug industry has yet to meet Karen Lynch. But that’s about to change — for the better. In an industry that has made its considerable reputation, at least in part, on the strength of its leaders, Lynch is both a logical extension of that reputation and a pleasant surprise for those who have
March 15, 2021 by David Pinto
NACDS Annual Meeting
March 15, 2021, Opinion
It happens every spring. Once more, without any preamble or prodding, the NACDS Annual Meeting is on the horizon. True, this seminal event, the week that annually brings the chain drug industry together, will be a bit different — and possibly a bit more confusing — this year. For one thing, it’s virtual. For another,
February 15, 2021 by David Pinto
Edwin Levin, Pawkway Drugs
February 15, 2021, Opinion
GLENCOE, Ill. — This is a story about Edwin Levin, an 82-year-old native of Chicago’s northern suburbs. Levin, a registered pharmacist, has spent much of his life behind or in front of various prescription counters, dispensing prescriptions, offering advice and generally doing what the most accomplished people in his profession routinely do: advise and counsel
February 1, 2021 by David Pinto
2021 NACDS Annual Meeting, NACDS
February 1, 2021, Opinion
The announcement was belated, if not unexpected. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores finally made it official earlier this month: The 2021 Annual Meeting, the chain drug industry’s lynch pin, the glue that holds the industry together, the event around which chain drug retailing spins, would not take place as originally scheduled. The annual
January 18, 2021 by David Pinto
NACDS Annual Meeting
January 18, 2021, Opinion
With the approach of February, the chain drug industry turns its collective eye toward April and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Annual Meeting, that traditional harbinger of the industry’s spring, time of renewal, rebirth, new opportunities and, hopefully for some, new beginnings. And that’s as it should be. It is only fitting that
January 4, 2021 by David Pinto
Bob Kwait
January 4, 2021, Opinion
To once again paraphrase that age-old maxim from a time-honored religious treatise: To those who know Bob Kwait, no explanation is necessary; to those who do not, no explanation is possible. Through a retailing career marked by innovation, creative thinking and, at times, controversy, Kwait stamped the chain drug community with a brand of thinking
December 7, 2020 by David Pinto
chain drug, happy new year
December 7, 2020, Opinion
Now that 2020 has finally, and mercifully, wound down, and a new year finally, and mercifully, is about to dawn, there is cause for optimism. It is an optimism based, at least in part, on the theory that the coming year cannot be worse than the year just ended. In that spirit, the editors of
November 23, 2020 by David Pinto
CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens
November 23, 2020, Opinion
It’s been a very long time since the remarkably stable top ranks of the chain drug community have witnessed so sudden and dramatic a series of seismic shifts — simultaneously. It’s as if the very earth that has long supported and grounded chain drug retailing has suddenly, and without warning, determined that stability has its
November 9, 2020 by David Pinto
Bartell Drugs, NACDS, Rite Aid
November 9, 2020, Opinion
No matter how you analyze it, 2020 was a depressing and deadly year. It’s not that nothing much happened. Rather, it’s the fact that what did happen was counterproductive — and then some. As background, we faced the coronavirus, the deadliest and most destructive pandemic to entrap America and the world in who-knows-how-many decades. Added
October 19, 2020 by David Pinto
Emerson Group Industry Day
October 19, 2020, Opinion
Wednesday, October 7, 2020, will be remembered or fondly recalled by mass retailing aficionados as the day a microcosm of the mass retailing community assembled, virtually, to discuss the past, debate the present and predict the industry’s future. As background, the event was conceived, assembled and choreographed by Scott Emerson, founder and CEO of the