In this Issue


In response to the news last month that Rite Aid named Tony Montini EVP merchandising, DSN shared this exchange with an online reader:


Dear DSN;


I am a Rite Aid pharmacist in the small desert town of Needles, Calif. Needles is a poor town with a lot of our business being Medi-Cal — state Medicaid. ... This is the rub: There are no Medi-Cal providers in the city! Most people have to go to the emergency room, or those with Medicare D plans [travel] 20 miles across the Colorado River to Arizona. ...



CVS provided a healthy dose of convenience to urban dwellers with the opening of its Urban Cluster store concept late last year. The stores have a decidedly unique bend, being stocked with a broad range of consumables, including an expanded pantry offering and a selection of affordable wines priced under $7.


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.



ORLANDO, Fla. — Studies have indicated that the best people to get patients to adhere to their medication therapies are store pharmacists, while the second-best people are nurses. Thus, it’s only natural that getting nurses and pharmacists to collaborate will further improve adherence. The collaborative care track that The Drug Store News Group will introduce at the Retail Clinician Education Congress in August is a step in that direction.


Walgreens dove into the digital beauty space earlier this year with a new and interactive website aimed at providing beauty mavens with real solutions to real makeup, hair and fashion dilemmas.


Walgreens.com/BeautyWithin offers step-by-step advice from beauty pros on how to achieve skin, hair and makeup looks, as well as video episodes highlighting everyday women and their personal beauty challenges.



Max-Wellness, the unique health-and-wellness destination that made its debut in the Cleveland area in 2010, features “Max-Answers” information stations throughout the store. However, what really distinguishes these stations from typical mass-oriented information kiosks is their portability — the Web-based tablets can be picked up by a customer or Max-Wellness associate for use right at the shelf of interest.


Sears is banking on beauty and is hoping that its recent expansion into beauty not only encourages more women to see the softer side of Sears, but also will bolster cross-category shopping.


Wegmans Food Markets last fall began installing Diabetes Solutions Centers across all 77 of its stores. This one, located in Wegmanʼs newest Maryland store in Woodmore, is adjacent to the pharmacy in the waiting area. Across from the pharmacy, which is located in the center of the store just behind the checkout registers, is Wegmans extensive health-and-wellness-oriented medicine and supplement section.


The center merchandises Wegmans’ new store-brand blood-glucose monitoring systems from Nipro Diagnostics, as well as other diabetes products and supplies.