Rite Aid announced Wednesday that it has converted nearly all its stores in the Buffalo, N.Y., area to the Wellness store format, breaking the news with an event in the nearby village of Williamsville that included president, chairman and CEO John Standley, COO Ken Martindale and fitness expert Denise Austin.

Just as writers find their voices, Rite Aid has paved its road with wellness. Evidence of that was clear when it announced its latest last month, raking in a $123.1 million profit for the fourth quarter and a $118.1 million profit for the fiscal year, its first profitable year since 2007.

Rite Aid's latest Wellness store concept features a new interactive Vision Center kiosk that allows customers to try new frames in the store and order prescription glasses and contact lenses for home delivery.

Rite Aid reported a $123.1 million profit for fourth quarter 2013 and $118.1 million for the fiscal year - its first profitable year since 2007 - amid greater generic drug penetration and retention of at least three-quarters of the customers who switched over to the chain during the dispute between Walgreens and pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, among other factors.

In other words, the factors that helped fuel the nearly $62 million profit the company reported in third quarter 2013 have continued to hold, which means the 4,623-store chain has put itself on track for strong future growth, which will no doubt be helped along by the debt refinancing the company finished in February.

Rite Aid beat analyst expectations in third quarter 2013 as the generic wave and retention of Express Scripts customers helped drive better-than-expected adjusted EBIDTA and produced the company's first profitable quarter in five years.

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.

An often-heard remark in arguments between people is, “You’re not looking at the big picture.” But it’s often just as important to look not just at the big picture, but all the little parts that constitute it, especially if you’re the head of store operations for a major retail chain.


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.


Rite Aid unveiled what it called its "next generation" Wellness store as the chain reported a decrease in same-store sales Thursday.

As part of Rite Aid’s new Wellness store formats, Rite Aid has positioned its Wellness Ambassador in front of the OTC aisles armed with an iPad that has access to vetted health information.

One of the most visible representations of Rite Aid’s efforts to make a comeback is its Wellness store format. The company first unveiled the format in several test markets in the Northeast last year, gradually expanding it to other states.

Despite running fewer stores, Rite Aid grew its sales and narrowed its losses during the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012, thanks to a boost in its loyalty card program membership, a longer fiscal year and the continuing dispute between Walgreens and Express Scripts.

When someone says “pharmacy automation and technology,” the image that most likely springs to mind is a pharmacy robot dispensing pills in a bottle or pharmacists managing operations or looking at patients’ medical records and electronic prescriptions with the latest pharmacy software.