In this Issue


It’s not often a niche brand manufacturer attempts to resuscitate what has been for years a commoditized category. But that’s exactly what Meda Consumer Healthcare will be attempting to do with iron — establish a good/better/best proposition to a supplemented category best defined as mediocre. For the 52 weeks ended April 16, mineral supplement sales were down 3.3% to $534 million across food, drug and mass (including Walmart), according to Nielsen Group data.


The new Pharmaca stores make a very bold statement about the relationship between pharmacy and prevention. The company unveiled its new store design in Menlo Park, Calif., in November 2010. The 6,800-sq.-ft. store continues Pharmaca’s “integrative pharmacy” model, which emphasizes holistic approaches to health care and features eight licensed practitioners.


Wegmans hosts a bevy of natural solutions (e.g., gluten-free foods, supplements and homeopathic solutions) just outside its produce department, including this refrigerated unit replete with probiotics and flax-seed oil supplements. That places the mass-oriented grocer more in line with the kind of natural wellness position you would expect to find at a Whole Foods or other natural grocer. 


Among the best real estate in a supermarket is the checkout line, where customers usually can find shelves of candy, gum and other small items. But this Hy-Vee store in Albert Lea, Minn., is offering healthy choices to a captive audience, according to published reports. 


Local news reported that 
the Albert Lea 
store has unveiled Hy-Vee’s 
Blue Zones lane, 
which instead of junk food features gran­ola bars, dried and fresh fruit, soy nuts and string cheese. 


Groupings of homeopathic pediatric cough-cold solutions, like those pictured here at a central Pennsylvania CVS, have become more the norm given the safety and efficacy debate around several children’s cough-cold ingredients over the past few years, the spate of recalls and the more recent media-driven concern over accidental overdosing.


DEERFIELD, Ill. — As the nation braces for higher gas prices this summer, Walgreens is exploring alternatives that may have longer-term potential and could serve as a differentiator among green consumers. As of April, Walgreens had announced three markets in which it had opened electric charging stations in its store parking lots. 


Unlike gas stations where consumers can simply pump and go, charging stations can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a half hour, which creates more time to capture more purchases. 


The Walk with Walgreens fitness program is an example of how a pharmacy retailer can go beyond dispensing to battle chronic disease in America and raise awareness around wellness and prevention.


Duane Reade, which now is owned by Walgreens, is redefining the chain drug beauty shopping experience for New Yorkers as it continues to roll out its Look Boutique as part of its transformation.


The upscale staffed beauty department services all aspects of beauty, including brows with a Ramy-branded brow bar that offers in-store brow-shaping services. Available beauty brands include Becca, POP Beauty, Purminerals, ’Tini Beauty Lounge and Vera Moore.