Before Walgreens bought out Duane Reade, the intersection of Avenue J and East 15th Street in Brooklyn was home to a Walgreens and a Duane Reade store. Shortly after the purchase, Walgreens shut down the Duane Reade store, an older store that had a less visible location under elevated railway tracks. Now, independent pharmacies along Avenue J are trying to attract the business of former Duane Reade customers.


Among the best real estate in a supermarket is the checkout line, where customers usually can find shelves of candy, gum and other small items. But this Hy-Vee store in Albert Lea, Minn., is offering healthy choices to a captive audience, according to published reports. 


Local news reported that 
the Albert Lea 
store has unveiled Hy-Vee’s 
Blue Zones lane, 
which instead of junk food features gran­ola bars, dried and fresh fruit, soy nuts and string cheese. 


Procter & Gamble, which owns the Gillette brand, is taking an innovative approach to reaching men in the grooming aisle with the rollout of its Men’s Zones in select H-E-B supermarkets.


A weak job market and enduring housing challenges in Florida weren’t enough to derail the onward march of Publix last year as the state’s leading supermarket chain expanded its total store count, grew same-store sales and ended the year with record results. 


The 59-year-old Save Mart supermarket chain more than doubled its store count in 2007 with the purchase of 132 Albertsons stores, but entered something of a dormant period since then. Save Mart now operates 241 stores in California and Nevada, down from a peak of 255 in 2009, and 114 in-store pharmacies, down from 115 in 2009.


Supervalu operates under the maxim that the pharmacy division exists as the “solution center for the sick and destination for the healthy.” In other words, Supervalu pharmacy endeavors to be that retail rarity: all things to all people. If it has something to do with health and wellness, treatments or prevention, Supervalu has an answer. 



A new partnership with Gold Standard/Elsevier has solidified Thrifty White Pharmacy’s efforts to bring big-city services to its small-town customer base, which is spread across five states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Iowa and Montana. 


The Maple Grove, Minn.-based chain of 84 stores recently licensed Alchemy, a new drug database and decision support solution, for all of its pharmacy and telepharmacy dispensing systems. The new partnership will enable the chain to streamline its prescription filling process and provide drug information to pharmacists instantly.


It has been a challenging few years for Walmart among ongoing sales difficulties, restructuring of senior leadership and the pursuit of a new, yet familiar, strategic direction. Despite all the turmoil and the constant media attention it received, Walmart’s health-and-wellness business unit remained a steady performer through 2010.