Top Retailers


With its latest string of initiatives designed to bring it out of a slump that lasted more than a decade, Rite Aid is aiming for “wellness” to do for it what the lower-case “i” did for Apple.


First, there was the wellness+ loyalty card program. Then, there was the wellness store format, with its team of Wellness Ambassadors. “This new format is all about empowering our customers in their pursuit of wellness,” president and CEO John Standley said in the company’s first quarter 2012 earnings call on June 23.



Since its nationwide launch in April 2010, Rite Aid’s wellness+ loyalty card program rapidly has proven itself to be a phenomenal boost to the chain’s business as the first-ever loyalty program designed to enhance customers’ savings and well-being together.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — While Walgreens is not alone in its pledge to serve up food oasis stores across urban deserts peppered by supersize-me fast food joints and convenience stores, the Chicago-based chain certainly has made the greatest commitment. In addition, Walgreens is serving up some pretty extensive access to health care along with their focus on “fresh.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — PNI Digital Media on Monday announced an agreement with Walgreens to provide and operate an online stationery service for the Chicago-based pharmacy.

The service will allow Walgreens customers to create and customize unique cards, invitations and other printed material, including personalized photobooks and photo calendars, wedding invitations and business cards.

According to reports, the PNI Digital Media Platform reaches more than 14,000 retail locations around the world, 9,000 of which offer a one-hour pickup service.

NEWTON SQUARE, Pa. — Boiron is making headway introducing a whole new natural external pain reliever into the mass outlet, having earlier this year won distribution through Walgreens and Duane Reade of its arnica gel Arnicare. And Arnicare already is the natural channel’s fastest-growing homeopathic topical pain relief brand, experiencing growth of 67.5% against sales of $5.9 million for the 52 weeks ended April 17, according to Nielsen. 


Health care is like precision engineering; tweaking one element ever so slightly can mean the difference between a healthy life and an early death or, in the case of drug spending, between nearly $50,000 and just north of $1,000.



One thing that was pretty clear in the research we conducted for the 2011 Retail Clinician Reader Survey is that an increasing number of retail-based health practitioners want the clinics they work for to expand the scope of services beyond acute care. Many readers said the one thing that would make them even more satisfied about the work they do is “moving beyond sick care,” as one reader noted, to more preventive/wellness-oriented services, including chronic disease management programs for diabetes, hypertension and more.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A food distributor has penned a three-year agreement with a supermarket chain to provide customers with nonproprietary natural, organic and specialty products.

United Natural Foods said it will assume distribution to all of Safeway's banners, effective this October. The company said it is expecting a brief transition period from Safeway's current distributors.