Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

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Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by Super S »

It looks like CVS is going to enter the Boise market soon:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/busi ... 73731.html

This location is interesting since it is one block west of an existing Rite Aid which is a former Safeway Marina store, and has received a big interior remodel within the last few years. Not to mention the Albertsons across the street.

The article also mentions a link to an article from April that CVS is planning a store at Fairview and Cole at the Westgate center (which used to have a Rite Aid) and mentions that the only other CVS in Idaho is in a Target store in Nampa.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by Super S »

It looks like CVS has opened its first standalone store in Idaho at Fairview & Cole:

https://www.idahostatesman.com/latest-n ... 10275.html

Worth mentioning is that, according to the article, they withdrew plans for the store at 17th & State Street.
It will be interesting to see how CVS does in Idaho. Boise has an established Rite Aid and (more recently) Walgreens presence, however, both Rite Aid and Walgreens have closed a few locations. (Rite Aid operated in the Westgate Center practically next door for many years, which evolved from Skaggs to Osco to PayLess before it became RIte Aid.) Albertsons also experimented with two standalone Sav-On drug stores in Boise and Meridian, both of which ended up closing.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by babs »

Super S wrote: November 12th, 2018, 7:30 am It looks like CVS has opened its first standalone store in Idaho at Fairview & Cole:

https://www.idahostatesman.com/latest-n ... 10275.html

Worth mentioning is that, according to the article, they withdrew plans for the store at 17th & State Street.
It will be interesting to see how CVS does in Idaho. Boise has an established Rite Aid and (more recently) Walgreens presence, however, both Rite Aid and Walgreens have closed a few locations. (Rite Aid operated in the Westgate Center practically next door for many years, which evolved from Skaggs to Osco to PayLess before it became RIte Aid.) Albertsons also experimented with two standalone Sav-On drug stores in Boise and Meridian, both of which ended up closing.
CVS should just make an offer to buy the Rite Aid stores in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Rite Aid would be dumb to turn down a decent offer.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by storewanderer »

I am not sure CVS wants the large retail spaces in shopping centers that would be provided through a purchase of Rite Aid in OR, WA, and ID. Most (not all) CVS large stores in CA look terrible; poorly stocked, poorly maintained, and very clear that they do not want large stores. These look even worse than Rite Aid West Coast Stores in 1999 did. CVS has moved more and more away from front end. It is clear their focus is not on merchandise but on pharmacy and other health services.

Also by building smaller boxes that are low volume with less merchandise space, they can develop new stores on smaller lots.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: November 12th, 2018, 10:41 am I am not sure CVS wants the large retail spaces in shopping centers that would be provided through a purchase of Rite Aid in OR, WA, and ID. Most (not all) CVS large stores in CA look terrible; poorly stocked, poorly maintained, and very clear that they do not want large stores. These look even worse than Rite Aid West Coast Stores in 1999 did. CVS has moved more and more away from front end. It is clear their focus is not on merchandise but on pharmacy and other health services.

Also by building smaller boxes that are low volume with less merchandise space, they can develop new stores on smaller lots.
Rite Aid is downsizing many of those older, larger stores as they remodel. But their recent remodels actually are for the most part thorough and look pretty good, although there are still a few telltale signs like ceilings and lighting that hint at a store's past.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by storewanderer »

Rite Aid is downsizing space in remodeled stores to about 20,000 square feet in the former Payless Stores and that space is being fully merchandised.

CVS new stores being built today aren't even 10,000 square feet. The 10,000 square feet is fully merchandised. However, CVS does not pack that 10,000 square feet with merchandise by any means. Low height shelves, few SKUs, short aisles...

I don't know how many facings of water, cotton balls, and paper products that CVS has in its "large format" 30,000+ square foot former Longs Stores out in CA/NV but they are literally everywhere you look. Once in a while you will find a nice large format CVS that is actually fully merchandised (like in Lincoln, CA) but those are the exception and not the norm.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by CalItalian »

storewanderer wrote: November 13th, 2018, 2:35 pm Rite Aid is downsizing space in remodeled stores to about 20,000 square feet in the former Payless Stores and that space is being fully merchandised.

CVS new stores being built today aren't even 10,000 square feet. The 10,000 square feet is fully merchandised. However, CVS does not pack that 10,000 square feet with merchandise by any means. Low height shelves, few SKUs, short aisles...

I don't know how many facings of water, cotton balls, and paper products that CVS has in its "large format" 30,000+ square foot former Longs Stores out in CA/NV but they are literally everywhere you look. Once in a while you will find a nice large format CVS that is actually fully merchandised (like in Lincoln, CA) but those are the exception and not the norm.
I've never been in a large CVS store (a former Sav-on or Longs) that is not fully merchandised.
Torrance (Redondo Beach Blvd & Hawthorne), Manhattan Beach (both locations - former Longs on Rosecrans in the Bristol Farms shopping center, former Sav-on next to Ralphs Fresh Fare), Santa Monica (Santa Monica & 26th), West Los Angeles (National & Sepulveda), Marina del Rey, Los Angeles (across from Beverly Center - a former Rexall Drugs then Longs) would be some of my examples.

They've done a great job updating and adding to the cosmetics, refrigerated and frozen departments as all of the locations I listed have recently been given a remodel. Torrance just completed their remodel and has the latest CVS design which is slightly different with the cosmetics area in the middle.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by storewanderer »

CalItalian wrote: November 15th, 2018, 11:10 am
storewanderer wrote: November 13th, 2018, 2:35 pm Rite Aid is downsizing space in remodeled stores to about 20,000 square feet in the former Payless Stores and that space is being fully merchandised.

CVS new stores being built today aren't even 10,000 square feet. The 10,000 square feet is fully merchandised. However, CVS does not pack that 10,000 square feet with merchandise by any means. Low height shelves, few SKUs, short aisles...

I don't know how many facings of water, cotton balls, and paper products that CVS has in its "large format" 30,000+ square foot former Longs Stores out in CA/NV but they are literally everywhere you look. Once in a while you will find a nice large format CVS that is actually fully merchandised (like in Lincoln, CA) but those are the exception and not the norm.
I've never been in a large CVS store (a former Sav-on or Longs) that is not fully merchandised.
Torrance (Redondo Beach Blvd & Hawthorne), Manhattan Beach (both locations - former Longs on Rosecrans in the Bristol Farms shopping center, former Sav-on next to Ralphs Fresh Fare), Santa Monica (Santa Monica & 26th), West Los Angeles (National & Sepulveda), Marina del Rey, Los Angeles (across from Beverly Center - a former Rexall Drugs then Longs) would be some of my examples.

They've done a great job updating and adding to the cosmetics, refrigerated and frozen departments as all of the locations I listed have recently been given a remodel. Torrance just completed their remodel and has the latest CVS design which is slightly different with the cosmetics area in the middle.
So far CVS has remodeled 3 of ~25 stores in my area and the remodels do look pretty good. It is amazing how they got the stores restocked for the remodels. It will be interesting to see how they maintain the remodels.

But most of the CVS Stores in my area look like death. They are barren of merchandise, understaffed, feel dirty, the former Longs Stores are generally real dogs that have little traffic, and if they are even a little bit busy (the former Sav-Ons fall into this category) they have chronic out of stock/theft issues. My favorite CVS is near the mall and Trader Joe's. It is a building that CVS owns, a big former Longs. For nearly a year, the place smelled like a toilet. I have no idea what was wrong, but when you walked in, the smell almost knocked you over. I have a terrible sense of smell but this store even got me. I can only imagine how unpleasant it would be for someone with a stronger sense of smell. They eventually fixed it, but it is a fairly high traffic shopping center (the CVS Store is dead), and I was surprised they allowed such poor conditions for so long. But with stores in the condition like 1250 West 7th Street in Reno that was probably last cleaned when it was Sav-On or the dire empty stores on Oddie Blvd. or N. McCarran Blvd. in Sparks, I can see how that happened.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by Super S »

A lot of the West Coast drugstores (Thrifty, PayLess, Longs, and Pay 'N Save) did double duty as general merchandise stores, especially in the days before Walmart. (a few stores still serve this purpose in smaller towns to some extent) The old PayLess stores for example had full departments such as sporting goods, music, and some even had apparel departments for a while. Chains such as Rite Aid and CVS never really had those to begin with and that is part of why so many of these older stores seemed so empty as those departments were phased out.

CVS is late to the party in the Northwest though and doesn't really need large stores. The small size actually is attractive to many who do not like dealing with large stores and the crowds that sometimes go along with them.
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Re: Two CVS locations proposed in Boise

Post by storewanderer »

Bartell is the correct way for CVS to enter Seattle.

I think that outfit knows the longer they hold on, the bigger the check CVS will write.

Those stores fit with CVS like a glove. Way better fit than Longs and Sav-On.
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