Top Retailers

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Walgreens is running the ball straight down the middle of the field in its bid to mitigate any lost Express Scripts prescriptions once the retailer is removed from that benefit manager's pharmacy network at the end of the year — and that seems increasingly likely with each passing day. And if Walgreens achieves 97% to 99% of its 2011 prescription volume of 819 million prescriptons next year, as the pharmacy retailer maintains, then it will be the Chicago-based Walgreens doing an end-zone shuffle of sorts by the end of next year.

CHICAGO — Valoramas on Monday announced the launch of an online bilingual membership club for Latinos in the United States at Valoramas.com.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — In an 8-K filing earlier this week, Walgreens broke down its Express Scripts business and challenged many assertions that have been made regarding contract negotiations with Express Scripts. The overarching theme of the filing suggested Express Scripts has little to gain without Walgreens within the pharmacy network fold but much to lose.

NEW YORK — CVS/pharmacy. Rite Aid. Walgreens. Sam’s Club. Ahold. H-E-B. The Katz Group. Giant Eagle. Good Neighbor. Health Mart. The list of participating companies in the 13th Annual Drug Store News Group Industry Issues conference — which will be held Tuesday, Nov. 29, here at the highly prestigious New York Athletic Club — reads like a “who’s who” of pharmacy retailing.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Coventry Health Care of Georgia has launched an awareness campaign with Walgreens that underscores the benefits of including the drug store chain in employers' 2012 pharmacy networks.

The campaign — which includes print and radio advertisements and outreach to companies whose current health plans will not include Walgreens in their 2012 pharmacy networks — seeks to educate employers in the Augusta and Savannah areas about how they can ensure access to convenient pharmacy services for their employees, Coventry said.

LOS ANGELES — Ethnic hair care brand Curls has announced that its hair care collection is now available at Walgreens, Rite Aid and Sally’s Beauty.

The Curls line contains all-natural ingredients and is free of sulfates, parabens, minerals or petroleum oils.

The products available include:

NEW YORK — Retail-based health clinics represent a viable business for retailers who locate and correctly manage them, according to Kalorama Information.

The healthcare market research publisher, which is a division of MarketResearch.com, made its assessment based on the recent news that Walmart may dramatically expand its retail clinics offering.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Women, more often than men, reported that diabetes had a greater negative impact on their emotional outlook as well as their compliance with diet and exercise recommendations, according to a study released Thursday by Rite Aid and WebMD. The survey also found that women were more open than men to receiving tools to help them manage their diabetes.