Retail Watchers

And to think this was a company that wanted to add all those Rite Aid Stores... just goes to show how that would have worked.

rwsandiego wrote: ↑September 11th, 2018, 5:40 pm Based on photos I've seen, Fred's stores are a few giant steps down from Walgreens. My guess is they do not want to tarnish their brand.

I don't think it's so much about tarnishing the brand as it is market penetration. Some of the smaller market stores where a Walgreens exists couldn't support duplicate stores. Some of the larger markets where they coexist already have full market penetration. The smaller markets where Walgreens does not exist are those markets where they do not wish to exist. It's an economic decision. In the places where Fred's stands alone in the pharmacy business was once hailed as their core business. I can't believe they're pulling away from it.

wnetmacman wrote: ↑September 11th, 2018, 5:15 pm

Knight wrote: ↑September 11th, 2018, 1:40 pm Many freestanding drugstores are less than 14,000 square feet. It could be possible a drugstore chain acquired a number of locations to replace non-freestanding store locations or to increase store count.

This purchase does not include any buildings or merchandise from any Fred's store, just the pharmacy records and inventory. They are not buying any of these stores. They are eliminating competition in the pharmacy. A typical Walgreens runs close to the size of a typical Fred's. While Walgreens could probably pull of a purchase of all of Fred's, it would raise antitrust concerns due to the need to close or divest many of the locations. I would suspect a later announcement will come that will find Walgreens purchasing the remaining stores outright, and Fred's closing the other stores.

Fred's Pharmacy locations have been counted as separate locations from Fred's store locations.

Has there been any news concerning which Fred's pharmacy locations are closing? My mother has used Fred's for years for her prescriptions and has never had an issue. The small town where she resides doesn't have a Walgreens but some nearby communities do. I am just curious which stores will be impacted.

Given that Rite Aid stores have permanently left Mississippi the pharmacy consolidation will impact some towns heavily.

I have not noticed a list of Fred's Pharmacy locations closing.

Knight wrote: ↑November 8th, 2018, 7:56 am I have not noticed a list of Fred's Pharmacy locations closing.

That's because one doesn't exist, except at Fred's and Walgreens. I do know that for the most part, if the town has a Walgreens, then the scripts have been moved. My local Fred's in Carencro, LA no longer has a pharmacy, and there is a sign inside Walgreens welcoming Fred's customers. That Fred's has taken three hits since its opening; once when Walgreens opened; again when Brookshire Grocery opened Super 1 Foods, and finally last year when our Walmart opened. A town of 7000 that once only had a couple of independent pharmacies now has 5, with 3 of those large retailers.

I wonder how much sales at affected Fred's stores have decreased since eliminating Fred's Pharmacy.

My mother uses Fred's for her prescriptions in her small, North Mississippi town and has for years. Their pharmacy is still open yet the town doesn't have a Walgreens. She commented months ago how the quality of the Fred's store has declined significantly in the last few years. The town now has 2 Dollar General Stores that weren't there when I was a kid and that may have definitely hurt sales at Fred's.

Fred's is either moving or has moved it's corporate operations out of Memphis to Dallas. I know the company has experienced some issues the last few years as Dollar Generals have multiplied across the rural south. One thing Fred's had going for it was a pharmacy in some locations and that's an industry DG has shown no interest in entering. It's natural for me to think the stores with pharmacies would have an advantage over DG but apparently it wasn't enough to help the store turn around the bottom line.

I posted about the Rite Aid exit from the south earlier today. I suspect Fred's will completely exit the pharmacy game in another year.

Knight wrote: ↑December 20th, 2018, 7:32 am I wonder how much sales at affected Fred's stores have decreased since eliminating Fred's Pharmacy.

I would assume not much. If my local Fred's was any indication, sales are pretty consistent throughout. However, there were more events that led to this store's downfall. The Fred's opened roughly 2007-2008. Super 1 Foods opened in 2012, as did Walgreens. Walmart opened in 2017. All of these took away from Fred's business; Fred's was the first non-locally owned pharmacy in town. They had big business at first, but as the others opened, the whole store dwindled rapidly. I don't see it staying much longer. The pharmacy closed in 2018.

https://www.drugstorenews.com/retail-ne ... rotection/

Looks like it's over for Freds