RITE AID

Rite Aid is testing a revamped beauty section in at least one of its Genuine Well Being stores, in New York's West Village. Dubbed Beauty Vision, the section features a wider assortment of brands, a spruced-up look and a Beauty Vision adviser who can help customers learn about various brands and products. The chain is promoting the new concept with a special event on Tuesday featuring Eddie Funkhouser, creator of the eponymous cosmetic brand.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid's philanthropic arm is donating $50,000 for relief efforts in the Philippines in the wake of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan.

The Rite Aid Foundation announced Wednesday that it would donate the money to the Red Cross for people and communities affected. The typhoon, which hit the Southeast Asian island nation Friday, left an estimated 582,000 homeless, according to government estimates cited by CNN, devastating communities like the city of Tacloban. Philippine president Benigno Aquino III told CNN that the death toll was likely to be around 2,500.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid has elected the president and CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives to its board of directors, the retail pharmacy chain said Tuesday.

Rite Aid announced the appointment of Kevin Lofton, who has worked with the Englewood, Colo.-based operator of hospitals and long-term care centers since 1998 and was appointed as its president and CEO in 2003.

You could call it a who’s who of the industry.

With a record-breaking crowd expected on hand, The Drug Store News Group has assembled an all-star lineup of some of the leading retail merchants and marketers in the industry for its 15th annual Industry Issues conference next month. All that and brand-building genius and TV celebrity Daymond John of ABC’s “Shark Tank” will deliver the exclusive lunchtime keynote.

Rite Aid’s efforts to convert the chain to the new Wellness store format have been running smoothly for a couple of years now, but it was this year that the chain reached two key milestones.

In May, the company announced that it had converted a majority of its stores in the Buffalo, N.Y., area to the format, for a total of nearly 100, marking the occasion with an event featuring John Standley, the company’s chairman and CEO, and Ken Martindale, the president and COO, as well as celebrity fitness expert Denise Austin.

NEW YORK — The drug store sector makes for a sound investment for investors of all stripes, according to a Motley Fool report published Thursday. 

In early morning trading Friday, CVS stock traded at $63.59, up 4 cents; Walgreens at $59.16, down 4 cents; and Rite Aid at $5.17, up 4 cents. 

Like any company looking to stage a turnaround, Rite Aid has employed multiple tactics to return to profitability and win back investors’ favor, but few of those programs have been as important to the chain’s efforts as its loyalty card program.

While it’s neither the first retail pharmacy loyalty program nor the largest, Wellness+ stands out as being the first to tie in specifically to the pharmacy — and that’s what has helped make it so successful.

One year after DSN’s groundbreaking ‘Gets Well’ issue, Rite Aid keeps growing profits and cred with shoppers and Wall St.

One year ago, DSN featured an exclusive report, “Rite Aid Gets Well,” on the cover of the Dec. 10, 2012 issue, examining how the company’s core strategy built around wellness empowerment was helping it turn around its business.