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
Amid the coronavirus pandemic that never seems to end, several stories have captured the attention of those who follow the chain drug community. As of this writing, none is as compelling as the drama at Walgreens, where an ongoing shuffle at the very top levels of management has raised issues and questions for which there
As the least-revered year 2020 winds down, several questions emerge regarding the future of chain drug retailing in America. It’s not that the industry is shaky or uncertain going forward; rather it’s that America’s chain drug industry has changed — perhaps permanently. A scenario that was unimaginable a year ago now presents itself as a
The interminable, never-ending, always dangerous summer of 2020 is over. There are those among us who believed — who still believe — this most infamous season among the most perilous years we’ve witnessed would never end. But it has. As we pick up the pieces, attempt to place and spread the blame, engage in endless
To those who know Jim Devine, no explanation is necessary; to those who don’t, no explanation is possible. That bromide, used with varying degrees of effectiveness over the decades, has never been put to better use than to describe the chain drug veteran whose diligence, dedication and hard work has transformed chain drug retailing as
Retailing, it can be safely and accurately argued, appears to have emerged as the least cohesive segment of the U.S. business community. A case in point: the brouhaha over the wisdom of compelling customers and staffers to wear protective masks while on the premises. By any standard of measurement, wearing masks will do no harm.
As Bob Dylan once famously wrote: The Times They Are a-Changin’. These times, at retail, certainly are a-changin’ — quickly. America is quickly reopening — and the mass retailing community can’t yet accurately read whether initial indications are positive or negative. On the plus side, retail sales in May lept ahead by over 16% compared
Among the more compelling and moving tales to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic is an episode involving an employee at a Costco warehouse club and a disgruntled but smug and self-important shopper. The customer, it seems, had neglected to don a protective mask, an omission that not only defied Costco’s stated policy of barring entry
There’s an old joke about the time a gun-toting robber confronted the notoriously frugal Jack Benny on the street, demanding “your money or your life.” When Benny failed to respond, the robber, noticeably exasperated, questioned his silence. Responded Benny: “I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” That’s pretty much the dilemma facing the chain drug store business these
The time has come, if perhaps a bit prematurely, to raise a glass to the leadership and staffers at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. These have been especially difficult days for NACDS. In the midst of the most serious pandemic in our nation’s history, the chain drug association was forced by circumstances beyond
The U.S. retailing community is totally immersed in the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, you would be hard put to find any other segment of American society so completely and effectively involved in this international crisis. Walk into a CVS drug store, a Walmart Supercenter or a Kroger grocery store and you are immediately met by a
To those who knew Jim Harrison, no explanation was necessary. To those who did not, no explanation was possible. Harrison, innovative founder and builder of one of America’s legendary drug chains, passed away late last month at the age of 87. To say that Jimmy lived a rich, fulfilling and meaningful life is to state
As The New York Times has been doing of late with astonishing regularity and surprising frequency, the newspaper of record has at last gotten round to demolishing the retail pharmacy business. In a front-page story on February 1, the Times shrieked, in its headline, that “Overloaded Pharmacists Warn They’re Making Fatal Mistakes.” The story proceeded
One drug chain, more than any other, has come through the years to represent and symbolize chain drug retailing in America — and, for that matter, in most of the rest of the world as well. That chain drug retailer has not always been the best performer, or the most exciting practitioner of the chain
