RETAIL NEWS

A pioneer in supermarket pharmacy retailing, H-E-B has been operating in-store pharmacies since the 1950s, when it opened its first full-scale supermarkets, some 50 years after founder Florence Butt opened the C.C. Butt Grocery Store in Kerrville, Texas, with a $60 initial investment. But over the past decade, the Texas-based supermarket and pharmacy powerhouse also has been at the forefront of the movement among supermarket pharmacy operators to expand their stores’ health-and-wellness outreach beyond the pharmacy and into the food aisles.

If Fred’s CEO Mike Bloom has his way, the Fred’s Pharmacy of today won’t be the Fred’s of tomorrow. The retailer — currently operator of 601 discount general merchandise stores with 350 store and pharmacy locations — announced in December 2016 that it will acquire a minimum of 865 divested Rite Aid stores should the U.S. Federal Trade Commission approve the proposed Walgreens Boots Alliance-Rite Aid merger. (The transaction had not been approved as of press time.) If approved, Fred’s would become the third-largest drug store retailer.

Hy-Vee is well-known for its health-and-wellness commitment, and the supermarket chain has been taking efforts up a few notches recently with new and expanded programs.

The Iowa-based company, which operates food stores in eight Midwestern states, has been growing programs for immunizations and in-store health clinics, while promoting in-store healthy foods’ departments and dietitians to support customer needs.

“The company prides itself on its dedication to health and wellness,” Kristin Williams, SVP and chief health officer, told DSN.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the eventual demise of independent community pharmacy are exaggerated. Not just exaggerated, but wildly inaccurate.

Thrifty White Pharmacy has been around in one form or another since the 1880s, but you wouldn’t know its age by the Plymouth, Minn.-based chain’s efforts at bringing its engagement-focused patient care to as many patients as possible. At the start of this year, the company — which Drug Store News named its Pharmacy Innovator of the Year in 2016 — unveiled its new Healthy Outcomes Diabetes Support Program, through which it partners with employers and providers in the communities its stores serve to help maximize health outcomes among diabetic patients.

Giant supermarket operator Kroger views health and wellness as an area for long-term investment, a point underscored by its purchase last year of specialty pharmacy ModernHEALTH. Even as it faces headwinds related to food deflation, Kroger is keeping an eye on growth opportunities in its expansive market area, which includes 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Walgreens Boots Alliance in the past year has implemented “a new way of thinking” across the upper echelons of the company. “We’re focused on working in partnership to provide a better, more efficient and more effective approach [to health care] within the United States,” Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance, told shareholders earlier in the year.

Drug chains are editing existing product assortments to clear more space for up-and-coming brands that court back shoppers who may have migrated to specialty stores. Several categories are heating things up in the beauty aisles, especially Korean beauty. Kline research reveals the category is growing at a 30% annual clip, and chains are seeking the right items to introduce more shoppers to the innovative and effective Korean entries.