SHOP ‘N SAVE, a grocery and drug retailer serving the St. Louis metropolitan area and Springfield, Ill., is expanding its network of pharmacies with the purchase of Rinderer’s Drug Stores Inc., a family-owned company that has served the metro area for generations. The sale involves all six Rinderer’s stores. Next month, three of the locations…
Rite Aid Partners With Save-A-Lot
Rite Aid Corp. plans to add discount Save-A-Lot groceries to 10 of its stores in and around Greenville, S.C., as it tests out a partnership with Supervalu Inc., the Associated Press reported. The stores are set to be remodeled by October, and renamed Save-A-Lot Food Stores/Rite Aid Pharmacy. Rite Aid will own and operate the…
CVS To Compete For Redbox Customers
Watch out c-stores, CVS is vying for movie rental customers. The drug store chain is rolling out fully-automated Redbox DVD rental kiosks at locations nationwide, including in Puerto Rico and Longs Drug locations in Hawaii. The national rollout, which comes on the heels of a successful pilot program at select CVS/pharmacy locations, is set to…
Rite Aid Reports Sales Dip for July
Drug store chain Rite Aid Corp. has announced that for the four weeks ended July 24, 2010, same store sales decreased 1.1% over the prior-year period. Its July front-end same stores sales decreased 0.5%, while total drugstore sales for the four-week period decreased 2.2% to $1.886 billion, compared to $1.929 billion for the same period…
Walgreens Tests Fresh Food
Walgreens is venturing into convenience store territory as it begins to conduct a test of chilled foods at 12 of its stores this fall, feeling out its ability to thrive in the growing fresh foods market, the Wall Street Journal reported. Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Washington confirmed the test noting the fresh food initiative could help…
Walgreens Moves Forward With Duane Reade Acquisition
Walgreen Co. has received the regulatory clearance from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission needed to complete the acquisition of Duane Reade Holdings Inc. “We’re clear to move forward and complete the Duane Reade acquisition, which will immediately give Walgreens a leading position in the nation’s largest drugstore market,” said Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson.…
Real Estate and the Retail Industry
Colliers International, a global real estate services firm, issued its 2010 Retail Trends and Opportunities report showing that retail vacancies will stabilize in many markets this year, but new retail construction has virtually disappeared and lease rates have dropped 25-40% from peak levels. Challenges abound in the retail marketplace, and we’ll witness more retail failures,…
Rite Aid Stores Now Accept EBT Cards/Food Stamps
Drug store chain Rite Aid is now accepting EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards/food stamps provided through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), at its stores nationwide. More than 38 million Americans received food assistance through SNAP last year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program,…