Chain Drug Review and MMR host "Retailer of the Year" awards ceremony.

NEW YORK — Chain Drug Review (CDR) and Mass Market Retailers (MMR) presented their 2023 “Retailer of the Year” awards last week in New York City. The event, held at The Harmonie Club, drew retailer and supplier executives from across the food, drug and mass channels.

Walmart Health was named Health Care Provider of the Year from CDR. Accepting the award for the company was executive vice president of health and wellness Brian Setzer.

CVS Health’s chief merchandising officer Musab Balbale was honored as CDR’s Merchant of the Year. In addition to being top merchant, Balbale is also an architect of the company’s new store prototype, in Millis, Mass., about 30 miles from Boston.

Kinney Drugs was awarded with CDR’s Regional Chain of the Year award. Kinney Drugs can trace its history back to over 120 years ago when Burt Kinney established the very first store here in 1903. Over the next 95 years, the company slowly expanded to nearly 100 retail locations throughout upstate New York and Vermont.  Accepting the award was Brian Scott, VP of Pharmacy Supply Chain Optimization, KPH Healthcare Services.

Randy Edeker, Hy-Vee’s  former chairman and chief executive officer and current executive chairman of the board was given CDR’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The event also honored the executives recognized by CDR’s sister publication, Mass Market Retailers. On hand to accept MMR awards were Dr. Daniel Fick and Kristin Williams of Hy-Vee (Health Executives of the Year), Justin Honaman of Amazon Web Services (Innovator of the Year), Richard Galanti of Costco (accepting for Lifetime Achievement Award winner Craig Jelinek), Amber Kayse of Kroger (accepting for Retailer of the Year Rodney McMullen) and Karen Shadders of the Emerson Group (Lifetime Achievement Award for her years at Wegmans).