Chain drug store operators are unique among mass market retailers in many ways, none more dramatic than the separation of the pharmacy and front-end businesses. In fact, they are actually two separate businesses, neither overly dependent on the other for success. So it is that the success in pharmacy of a retailer like Walgreens Boots
Amid the dazzling array of industry events that marked April as an exceptional month in the chain drug retailing community, Tom Coughlin, the legendary Walmart executive who led the company through some of its most memorable years, passed away at the age of 67. His funeral was held in Bentonville, Ark., a week before the
One-third of the way into the new year, the chain drug store industry is hardly setting any worlds on fire. Business is good, but noteworthy only in the fact that it’s not better. America’s chain drug industry has significantly dialed down the pace of mergers and acquisitions that had characterized it over the past two
The Annual Meeting of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores is once again upon us, though the calendar year hasn’t yet budged beyond April. The significance of this annual meeting has nothing to do with the calendar, however. Rather, it comes along just as retailers and suppliers begin to get the tone of the
Fast Company, one of the more appealing and relevant business publications to have come along in recent years, recently compiled a list of the world’s 50 most innovative companies. Several familiar names were included, perhaps most notably to retail students, CVS Health. Not surprisingly, Fast Company presented a strong case for CVS’ inclusion, but it
This year, Chain Drug Marketing Association (CDMA) marks its 90th anniversary. To translate, the organization was begun in 1926. The date was three years prior to the Great Depression and 13 years before the outbreak of World War II. Flying was a sometime thing, and air travel, when it was deemed an efficient and safe
The new year has begun inauspiciously for chain drug retailing, an industry that is still trying to assess the results of the just completed Christmas selling season. By all accounts, December was a month of no great accomplishments, even if it was not the disaster some observers predicted. Now it’s on to 2016, and the
Christmas is over, yesterday’s news. And the mass retailing community is scampering to assess its impact on sales, earnings and the future. For chain drug retailers, this holiday selling season, like so many before it, was acceptable, if hardly record-setting. As in previous years, America’s drug chains suffered from an absence of exciting new products
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores held its year-end meetings in New York City early this month — and very little was as it had been a year ago. Many of the same familiar faces were on hand, and several of the same retail companies attended. But the yearlong series of events that have
Black Friday is here — again. But the current promotion bears little resemblance to the event that, apparently eons ago, ushered in the Christmas selling season by offering shoppers, for a limited time on the day following Thanksgiving, holiday specials that lured customers into all manner of stores. Black Friday today appears to linger for
Reaction to Walmart’s announcement in mid-October that the retailer’s sales and earnings would suffer as a result of its heightened commitment to its employees, its stores and its online presence dwarfed any negativity the company had experienced in nearly two decades. The retailer’s stock plunged — and the rub-off impacted the entire retail community. Indeed,
As the year 2015 winds down, the chain drug community must face the reality that the coming year will be unlike any that has preceded it. The same drug chains still rule the U.S. landscape. But the content of their character and the face of the people who guide them are vastly different than in
The ranks of the founding families, the leaders who collectively framed and built the chain drug store business in America, are thinning at an alarming rate. Sad as this development is, sadder still is the reality that very few among the current crop of chain drug industry leaders remember who they were or what they
Summer’s nearly over. The holiday selling season is a few small steps away. The back-to-school selling season is over. Halloween is here. Thanksgiving is a moment away. What happened? Where has 2015 gone? What has it meant for mass retailing? More urgently, Total Store Expo, the mammoth merchandising exhibition assembled by the National Association of