Special Reports Archive


Shopko’s story is sort of like a retailing version of “The Little Engine that Could.” Among mass merchandise retailers, it’s one of the smaller and less well-known chains, but that hasn’t stopped it from making its mark, particularly in new health-and-wellness and pharmacy initiatives.



In the May issue of Consumer Reports, a report found that such independents as McKesson’s Health Mart franchise group are delivering the goods.


McKesson helped capitalize on what has always been an exemplary Health Mart patient experience at the top of last year with a multi-
million-dollar ad campaign that included an ad during the New Orleans Saints/Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl. That 2010 campaign featured real Health Mart pharmacists with stories on how they have impacted their local communities by taking the time to care and provide special services.


Cleveland, Ohio-based Marc’s will sell almost anything, provided it can price the item low and turn it quickly. But it won’t sell shrunken heads.


“We went to one customs auction a while ago and bought some artifacts,” said company founder Marc Glassman in a recent YouTube video. “Then we found out we’d bought some real shrunken heads from Peru. We were quite embarrassed.”


As a specialty pharmacy provider, BioScrip probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when one hears “retail pharmacy,” but its network of 31 community pharmacies around the country gives it a comfy spot at the table. The kinds of products and services it’s able to offer — ranging from home infusion and treatments for complex, chronic disease states to over-the-counter medications and sometimes even consumables — as a result of its combination of community pharmacy and specialty pharmacy make BioScrip stand out.


Its leaders and member-owners call it “the newest and best independent pharmacy cooperative in the nation.” It’s certainly one of the largest.



The pharmacies of tomorrow are expected to be more service-oriented, and Discount Drug Mart is preparing to be exactly that: a comprehensive pharmacy point of care. 


“We are really marketing pharmacy more now than we have in the past,” noted Tom McConnell, Discount Drug Mart VP and CFO. For every month since an October 2010 implementation of the pharmacy-focused marketing, and a $1.99 generic drug program covering 50 generics, Discount Drug Mart has been realizing comparable-prescription gains, he said. 


A&P may be a supermarket chain, but judging by its string of new health-and-wellness initiatives and strong emphasis on pharmacy, one could argue that it really is a pharmacy with a grocery store wrapped around it.


Through A&P’s network of 200 pharmacies and 605 pharmacists, the company is aggressively looking for ways to improve the health and well-being of its shoppers. And that includes improving medication adherence. 


Target is branching out.


Buoyed by surging profits and customer satisfaction scores, the Minneapolis-based giant is reaching into Canada, preparing a new small-store format for urban areas and going after a bigger share of the nation’s grocery dollar. Target also is spending billions on store renovations, aggressively leveraging a new loyalty card program and growing its commitment to health at its pharmacies and in-store clinics.