On the eve of the annual NACDS regional chain conference, about to convene in South Florida as this piece is written, now is perhaps the perfect time to reflect on the stunning success regional drug chains are experiencing in the U.S. chain drug community.

Steve Anderson

For openers, it is simpler to evaluate the small chain segment as an entity than to rate each individual regional chain in relation to the others. To state the obvious, regional players are not as open in displaying their numbers as are their national counterparts. Therefore, it is pure folly to state that one regional is superior to another. Simply put, we just don’t know.

That said, let’s turn to a simpler analysis: Why have local and regional drug chains emerged at this particular time in this country as chain drug leaders? Broadly speaking, here is a tentative list of five reasons (readers are free, of course, to add or subtract as they see fit).

• Regionals know the territory as their national competitors never will. Remember the independent drug store of a couple of generations ago? Substitute the word “regional” for “independent” and you’ll understand. When in doubt, today’s drug store customers turn to their local drug store, the store they trust, the community they represent, the employees they know (sometimes very well). Remember the phrase “Trust the people that brung ya?” Today’s regionals represent that maxim.

• The people who own, run and manage today’s regionals are the brightest the chain drug industry has yet seen. They’ve grown up in our industry, frequently under a parent’s direction. Often, they’ve spent their formative years working in a regional chain drug store. At the same time, they’ve been exposed, almost from birth, to the wisdom and experience offered by an NACDS education. In short, they know the business. Something their bigger chain drug store brothers can’t always attest to.

• Regionals operate in the choice locations. And why shouldn’t they? This is where they’ve grown up, matured, studied, learned the business. By contrast, the prairies, the countryside, the mountain states, the Deep South — these are, in many respects, alien territories for Big Brother.

• Regional chain drug operators know their customers in ways their national competitors never will. Ergo, they know what product their customers want, look for and purchase. Let’s not undervalue this asset. To fully know your customer, know what he or (more frequently) she shops for — and buys. It’s easier to know that if that shopper is the person you went to school with. And later ­married?

• Finally, regional chain operating executives and managers simply work harder than their national counterparts. Why? They’ve had to in order to survive. Well, today they are reaping the rewards of hard work: They are prospering — often at the expense of their larger competitors who, in the past, simply smiled and emphasized more important issues.

So we conclude this short trip to fantasyland with these words: Congratulations regionals. You’ve earned all the plaudits the chain drug community has to offer.