Industry Updates: Drug Stores and HBC Chains – September 2013

Personnel Updates:

Kinney Drugs Inc. announced the promotion of Jim Spencer, formerly COO, to President of Kinney Drug stores. In this role, Spencer will be responsible for the total customer experience and strategic growth of our retail drug stores. In addition to overseeing pharmacy and retail operations, marketing, and merchandising, he will assume oversight responsibilities for our logistics. Spencer will continue to report to Bridget-ann Hart, R.Ph., President of Kinney healthcare services

Rite Aid promoted Tammy Royer to Group VP of Managed Care. Ms. Royer joined the company in 1996 as a pharmacist.

Industry Insight:

Rite Aid announced that during the second quarter of fiscal year 2014, the number of stores in the chain that have been converted to the Wellness and Genuine Well-Being formats passed 1,000, with the total number of stores converted totaling 1,019 — including 114 under the newer Genuine Well-Being format — and expected to reach 1,200 by the end of the year.

Walgreens plans to open a two-story, 30,000-sq.-ft. flagship store in the revamped Wrigley building in Chicago. The new store will be Walgreens’ third Chicago flagship.

Mergers and Acquisitions:

Walgreen Co. and Kerr Drug, a privately held regional pharmacy chain in North Carolina, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Walgreens would acquire certain assets of Kerr Drug’s retail drugstores and specialty pharmacy business. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Real Estate:

CVS Caremark held a grand opening event at its new state-of-the-art Mail Service Pharmacy and Customer Center in Mt. Prospect, IL. The 150,000 square foot facility, representing an investment of approximately $67 million, supports pharmacy inventory and fulfillment needs across the CVS Caremark Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) book of business, which serves approximately 60 million members throughout the United States. With the capability to fill 50 million prescriptions annually, this new facility is an example of CVS Caremark’s continued investment and commitment to the State of Illinois.

Technology News:

Walgreens announced the latest updates to its iPhone mobile app that allows users to create photo cards with special themes such as thank you, holidays, announcements and invitations. Unique collages also can be created directly from an iPhone. Walgreens is the first retailer to provide the ability to create collage prints using a mobile device and pick them up in about an hour. Photos for these creations easily can be uploaded from the user’s phone, Facebook or Instagram albums.