Remembering a legendary merchant
almost 20 years after he left the drug chain he helped build into an iconic retailer — is the fact that
Opinion
Pharmacists get help in fight against Rx abuse
The Drug Enforcement Administration late last month sponsored a program to remove dangerous drugs from communities across the country.
Rx: The convenient health care alternative
No keener rivalry exists in all of retailing than that between CVS and Walgreens, America’s largest and most successful drug chains.
Cost of health care yet to be addressed
During the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ Pharmacy and Technology Conference at the end of August, Steve Anderson, the organization’s president and chief executive officer, was heard to say that when it comes to health care reform he used to think we were in the fourth inning of a nine-i
NACDS has clear view of pharmacy’s course
The great American historian Henry Adams wrote, “Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.” If that’s the case, retail pharmacy finds itself in an environment that makes the profession ripe for rejuvenation.
Kerr’s Chapel Hill store: Simply the best
when his patients really insist — give advice about the drugs that he’s dispensing, the best and the brightest of today’s
Higher profile adds to growing clout of Rx
A story about community pharmacists and their growing role in the nation’s health care system appeared on the front page of a Saturday edition of The New York Times earlier this month. Taking the work of Barney’s Pharmacy, an independent drug store in Augusta, Ga.
Lessons of the SKU rationalization debate
Though the year is barely half over, the major story of 2010 is clearly the retailer rush to pare assortments, popularly known as SKU rationalization. This exercise in reducing the number of items on retailer shelves has taken on a life of its own.
Rx operators adjust to changing paradigm
The Obama administration has begun the slow, laborious process of implementing the Affordable Care Act, legislation that will bring momentous changes to the nation’s health care system by the time its major provisions take effect in 2014.
Big three drug chains are being reshaped
Walgreen Co., CVS Caremark Corp. and Rite Aid Corp. — announced game-changing alterations. In that short span of time Walgreens acquired Duane Reade; Rite Aid reported that Mary Sammons, the retailer’s iconic chief executive,
CVS Caremark keeps eye on what’s next
CVS Caremark recently issued “Insights 2010: Evolving Pharmacy Care,” the latest in a series of annual reports about the role of prescription drugs in the nation’s health care system as seen from the perspective of the company’s pharmacy benefits management operation.
Better organization would lift NACDS Marketplace
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores, it has been said, makes friends in the spring and enemies in early summer, repairs relationships in late summer and then solidifies relationships during the winter. Well, it’s early summer. The NACDS Marketplace Conference has just ended.
Exit of Ryan, Maione to have big impact
Two game-changing personnel shifts were announced last month: one stunning in its inexplicable surprise, immediate impact and long-term implications; the second unfortunate and perhaps, in the end, inevitable.
Drug chains find themselves in a difficult spot
As recent developments in several countries attest, traditional drug stores confront an array of challenges that have the potential to weaken their competitive position vis-à-vis other community pharmacy operators and threaten their financial viability.
NACDS Annual Meeting a major triumph
Over three very special days at the end of April, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores staged one of the memorable retailing conventions of recent times, a thrilling and productive spectacle that brought together the leading retailers and suppliers in America and gave them both the stage an