No discipline in chain drug retailing has changed as suddenly and dramatically in recent years as has the role of the pharmacist. Yet ironically, as retail pharmacists have become more critical to the chain drug store, the role of the pharmacy counter they once ruled has diminished. Once upon a time, the primary — indeed,
Once upon a time, the leaders of America’s largest drug chains — Tom Ryan, Dan Jorndt, Alex Grass, Harvey Rosenthal, Dave Bernauer — were widely recognized and universally admired, not for who they were but for what they accomplished. Much of the respect they earned emanated from their willingness to interact with other members of
Like the flowers that bloom in the spring, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ Total Store Expo is once again upon us. Depending on when you’re reading this piece, it is either beginning, in progress or recently ended. The venue is Boston, the cradle of Democracy. The dates: August 27 to August 30. The
Walmart’s Bentonville headquarters office is once again open for business, and the retailer’s home office associates are returning to the desks, cubicles and spaces they had diligently occupied before the now-legendary pandemic disrupted their routines, schedules and lives so many months ago. The significance of this event far outweighs the renewed shuttling of bodies and
Ask 100 people to name the two best Beatles songs and you’re likely to get 200 different answers. The point is, identifying the best of anything is not all that easy. To the contrary, it’s a daunting assignment. Which brings us to the subject for today. Can anyone here name the best retailer? Or the
Among the assignments the editorial staff at Racher Press, publisher of MMR and Chain Drug Review, carries out with alacrity and a degree of professionalism is that of bringing buyers and sellers together, of greasing the table where buyers and sellers can meet and move their businesses forward. So it was on a chilly Tuesday
As we relive American retailing history, which we occasionally do, we’re reminded that Kmart, once the largest general merchandise retailer in the United States, has dwindled a bit in size. The current store count for the former Troy, Mich., dynamo is … five. Five? That’s correct. In mid-January, Kmart’s holding company announced that it plans
One could argue, with some degree of logic and certainty, that the most intriguing and significant competition in today’s mass retail community is the duel between Walmart and Amazon. Certainly the stakes are high — with the two retailers occupying the very top rungs of the retail ladder. Then, too, each approaches the market in
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
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
DALLAS, Ga. — About a 40-minute drive from Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, in a community that bears little resemblance to the Texas city that shares the same name, a new health care facility has risen, almost overnight, that seeks, with considerable success, to address the problems many Americans face in gaining access to affordable
A recent event affirmed a retailing revolution. Representatives from some of America’s leading mass market retailers gathered in New York City to accept awards for the contributions they have made to their companies and the retailing community. What was remarkable — or perhaps not so — was that these award winners were all women. They
In an ever-changing retail universe, a world where today’s bright hope is tomorrow’s used-to-be, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ Annual Meeting, held each spring, remains the standard by which retail meetings are, or should be, judged. To borrow a well-known phrase, to those who regularly attend the NACDS Annual Meeting, no explanation is
The current year is two-thirds finished, and the good news is most notable by its absence. Sales are soft, earnings elusive. Hot new items are few and far between. Growth is nowhere to be seen. Meaningful executive job shifts have been all but absent. Mergers and acquisitions have failed to materialize — and even those