"You’ve got to skate to where the puck is going, not to where it’s been.” 
That’s how Bryan Pugh, who is Walgreens’ VP and chief merchandising officer, described how the merchandising department functions at Walgreens.

Incorporated into the new store formats currently being rolled out by both Walgreens and Rite Aid is a new store associate position with the primary function of proactively engaging customers in the OTC aisle. Walgreens calls them Health Guides; Rite Aid calls them Wellness Ambassadors.

“It’s actually an illusion that those boxers are separate entities. The separate entities are just the way we choose to perceive them. The boxers, you, me — we’re all part of the same quantum field. Think of the two boxers as ocean waves or currents of air — two tornadoes, say. They appear to be two separate things, but they’re not. Tornadoes are just wind. The wind stirred up in different directions. The fact is nothing is separate. Everything is connected. The shapes we see exist only in our own consciousness.”

Celsius Holdings on Monday welcomed Tony Little, worldwide fitness icon and Fitness Hall of Fame Inductee.

The Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council on Monday published the final installment of its five-part report on social media, which suggested that grocery marketers significantly can leverage any social media participation by simply responding to tweets on Twitter and exploring the potential of professional networking site LinkedIn, where activity has been supercharged by the recession.

Carma Labs earlier this year teamed with mixed media artist Lisa Pavelka to launch 365 Days of Lip Service, a collection of artwork created on the lids of 366 Carmex lip balm jars.

Outside of TV land and around the country, going local isn’t just a punch line for an evening comedy show or even a peculiarity of the weekend farmers market. It’s an increasingly popular merchandising strategy for retail chains.


The NCPA recently unleashed a new front-end program that has seen more than 20% growth in test pilots. 
Driving that program is 35-year retail veteran Gabe Trahan, NCPA senior director of store operations and marketing. Drug Store News caught up with Trahan to discuss the kinds of tools that can be 
accessed as part of the new program. 


Rather than take off for Christmas, the editors of Drug Store News took a look at the year ahead and the stories, issues and trends that will make headlines in retail pharmacy in 2012.



It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It’s that kind of Dickensian double-speak that personifies the tone of the holiday forecasts this year — forecasts that have really been all over the board.

October sure was a busy month for news in the drug channel. It began in earnest on Oct. 1, the day CVS’ new president officially began his new job. Before the month was over, CVS’ chief merchant left to become president of Family Dollar, and his responsibilities would be carved up between three key executives.


The 19th century British writer William Hickson may have written, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again,” but he only had half the story. By all means, try again, but don’t do the same thing over and over and expect different results.