In this Issue

One subcategory that has really jolted the sales-per-square-inch across analgesic sets is sleep aids. Sales of sleeping remedies, including both liquids and tablets, were up 51.2% to $408 million for the 52 weeks ended Aug. 11 across U.S. multi-outlets, according to IRI data. Almost one-third of that, or $127 million, came courtesy of Procter and Gamble’s ZzzQuil, which launched a little more than a year ago.

In 2006, Health Mart was a loosely cohesive buying and marketing group of 268 independently owned and operated drug stores, falling under McKesson Corp.’s store-support umbrella via its purchase of the old FoxMeyer wholesale business in the mid-1990s. Today, just seven years after its reinvention and relaunch by McKesson, Health Mart is the nation’s biggest independent pharmacy franchise and one of the fastest-growing drug store networks of any kind, with more than 3,100 member stores doing business in thousands of communities across the United States.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Positioned as the first skin care line in the marketplace to feature full vitamin E is the new Vitamin E Intensive Therapy Bodycare line from derma e. The line — which is comprised of a body balm, body lotion and hand crème — promises to provide moisture, protection and nourishing skin benefits to restore dry, flaky, itchy, cracked or damaged skin. Vitamin E helps restore and maintain the skin’s natural barrier function to help defend against elemental stress.

For Tom Davis, co-owner of Kiowa Health Mart Pharmacy, in Eads, Colo., technology has always been critical to the operation. “We put in our first pharmacy system in 1982. At the time, we may have been one of the first systems in Colorado, to be honest,” Davis told DSN.

Davis, a 38-year pharmacy veteran — 25 years with Health Mart — essentially organizes technology into 1-of-3 buckets:

Anti-aging products, once the darling of the facial skin care category, have experienced a slowdown in growth since the recession — due, in part, to an influx of new products and likely some cannibalization from such multitasking products as BB creams. Meanwhile, skin care staples like facial moisturizers and cleansers have moved into the lead.

While the boom in generic drugs now looks set to wane, another segment of the pharmaceutical industry is rapidly rising and presenting new growth opportunities for pharmacy retailers: specialty drugs.

ST. LOUIS — Anheuser-Busch is continuing to blur the line between beer and cocktails. The brewer’s latest addition to the popular Ritas family is Bud Light Lime Cran-Brrr-Rita, a limited-edition winter offering. Cran-Brrr-Rita hits store shelves in November, and will be available in 12-packs, 8-oz. cans and 25-oz. cans. Straw-Ber-Rita has been a huge hit this summer and is the largest share gainer in the beer industry this year, according to A-B.   

When multiple multinational companies start investing their acquisition monies into one particular category, it’s a good bet that category is poised for some pretty significant growth.

(For the full category review, including sales data, click here.)