apteafan wrote:Rite-Aid finally has a loyalty card, Wellness Program, that makes some sense.
Once you sign up, purchases including prescription co-pays, quality for points. I also like the automatic ten percent discount on all regular price Rite-Aid products.
Actually, Rite Aid has had a loyalty card, the Rite Rewards card. This was only in select markets, though...
submariner... were you sent a replacement Wellness+ Card in the mail since you were a Rite Rewards Member? In a press release about Wellness+ they stated they were sending new replacement cards to all who were involved in an existing Rite Aid loyalty program. Other existing Rite Aid loyalty programs included Living More for seniors and some kind of prescription savings card. The common theme with all of these programs was the 10percent off all everyday high prices of RAD Brand items. I have multiple Rite Rewards Cards and was never sent a replacement Wellness+ card.
They were supposed to do a more wide scale rollout of Rite Rewards over 10 years ago on the west coast but then it was cancelled. Then by 2000 they stopped requiring the card for sale prices in the pilot markets out west that got it in 1998 (Boise, Portland, and Seattle). I think Las Vegas also had the Rite Rewards Card but it came there later.
But the old late 1990's Rite Rewards Program was kind of similar to this. They did targeted promotions to cardholders, sent coupons out after you spent a certain amount of money, etc. I also recall a loyalty program traced to photo finishing under the late 1990's program but I don't remember the details.
That area is a very rundown neighborhood. I would probably characterize it as a low income area. There is already a Rite Aid store there that is a former Payless. It was built around 1996 and is right next to a busy supermarket. It never made any sense to me when Rite Aid closes a store next to a busy supermarket and builds a smaller store on the street corner.
I think that Rite Aid has realized that a new smaller store on the corner would cost too much money when they already have a large store located next to a busy supermarket. I believe that once they move away from the supermarket, they are going to lose customers. People want one stop shopping. They are going to shop at the supermarket and then walk next door for drug store items. They don't want to have to get in their car again, drive to a drug store, and park again. Traffic in that area is terrible already.
I hate that Rite Aid only builds tiny little new stores these days. Payless used to build good sized stores with garden centers and lots of space. Rite Aid just builds cramped little stores. I do admit that the new Rite Aid decor looks reasonably good, but they could simply remodel the former Payless store and save lots of money.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on June 16th, 2010, 11:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Rite Aid had some pretty ambitious plans when they first arrived in the Northwest to move most of their stores out of strip malls, some only to parking lots nearby. I know of a few where they purchased land and demolished buildings, never built a new store, and eventually closed the existing one with no replacement. There are some which decided to stay put and were remodeled, and some which have not been remodeled since they were PayLess Drug.
Rite Aid's new stores out west are about the size of a Thrifty, maybe about 15% smaller. Some have been built with garden centers. Not close to the size of a standard Payless. I don't find the new stores of the latest prototype to be cramped at all. The RA1s were on the cramped side.
I don't think this new store in Concord ever got much off of the planning phase. That seems like a questionable location to build a new store anyway. It isn't the greatest area. It could have been a defensive move (Walgreens or CVS may want the corner for a new store). What is wrong with the old store? The old store is in with Food Maxx (no pharmacy) who does not handle as full of a drug assortment as the Albertsons next to it previously did and having both stores next to one another compliments each other very well.
For the last two years, Rite Aid has been cited as a company not likely to survive the year. Thus far they have survived, but the decision to stop new store construction does not bode well. RAD stock price is an all time low and I'm sure the banks are refusing to finance new store construction.
The demise of RAD would eliminate a viable 3rd drug store chain, and more to the advantage of CVS and Walgreens than any independents and regional drug chains. WAGS and CVS would lose a major competitor in several markets as well as be the likely buyers for closed locations. This would be a bigger boon for WAGS than CVS which is digesting Longs. WAGS growth has primarily been organic, with the exception of Happy Harry's, Duane Reed, and the occasional independent, but has a less concentrated presence in both the West and East coast than CVS or RAD, allowing them to become a major player on both coasts.
If Rite Aid were to fail, it would present an opportunity for CVS to gain a presence on the West Coast. However, it would also allow Walgreens to create somewhat of a monopoly. Several years ago Walgreens purchased most of the regional chain Hi-School Pharmacy and converted most of these stores to Walgreens. Many locations were in strip malls (unusual for Walgreens) and remain open.
Rite Aid's failure would be awful for customers. I shop at Rite Aid because many of their prices are lower than that of Walgreens or CVS. Rite Aid also carries some items that I cannot find at Walgreens or CVS. I know that Rite Aid has problems such as leaving many stores unremodeled.
Rite Aid provides competition for other drug stores. If Rite Aid disappears, Walgreens and CVS would just continue to raise their prices since they would gain monopolies in some areas.
I really would hate to see Thrifty Ice Cream disappear. Their ice cream is really good, and it is the last remnant of Thrifty that is left.
That being said, Rite Aid should just make a decision. Their slow death has been dragging out for the longest time. They should just admit defeat and get it over with. Sell off their stores to other companies and move on.
