WALGREENS

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday joined representatives from Walgreens to celebrate the grand opening of a new Walgreens flagship store in the Bucktown-Wicker Park neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon, taking the opportunity to remind Chicagoans about the importance of getting a flu shot this season.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens is welcoming the public on Dec. 1 to the official opening of its 8,000th store nationwide and its first flagship store on the West Coast, located in Los Angeles at the iconic corner of Sunset and Vine.  (To see extensive photos of the new store and the star-studded, red carpet grand opening event, click here.)

By the time it had unveiled the latest evolution of its hot, new Wellness store concept this fall in Lemoyne, Pa., Rite Aid was coming off seven consecutive quarters of Adjusted EBITDA and same-store prescription count growth — the strongest growth period for the company in several years.

It's only fitting that Walgreens placed its 8,000th store opening among the stars of Hollywood. It's not only a stellar achievement in and of itself, but the company's latest flagship store — and the first one on the West Coast — continues to emphasize Walgreens' out-of-this-world approach to drug store retailing.

Ultimately, there’s no “retail pharmacy” without the “pharmacy,” and that’s true of any store that dispenses prescription drugs — whether it’s a small independent drug store, a nationwide chain, a supermarket or a mass merchandiser. But in many respects, Rite Aid is trying to make the “pharmacy” component of that phrase just a little bit bigger.


RETAILER NEWS — Walgreens launched Ology, a nationally accessible and affordable brand formulated to be free of harmful chemicals. Exclusive to Walgreens’ family of companies, the Ology brand features a line of household cleaners, as well as baby and personal care products. 


It’s a marriage of industry icons. In June, Walgreens finally made a long-awaited leap across the Atlantic to acquire British-based Alliance Boots, one of the world’s premier retailers of pharmaceuticals, health and beauty aids, and beauty care products. 


When Walgreens and Express Scripts finally came to terms and agreed to again do business with each other in mid-2012, it marked the formal end of one of the costliest disputes in the history of pharmacy retailing and managed care. 


Walgreens and ESI announced July 19 that they had “reached a multiyear pharmacy network agreement that includes rates and terms” that both sides could live with, although those terms were not disclosed.