CVS and cutting store hours

MSSportsGuy
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by MSSportsGuy »

I am a huge fan of CVS and spend some time figuring out their coupons, sales and extra bucks. If one puts a little effort in it they can purchase some household or personal items cheaper than Walmart or Target. Their sales and prices during these events are better than Walgreens.

However, I can honestly see a day where the front end of a CVS will look very different than what it does today. They will probably always carry vitamins and personal care items but I can see the limited junk food selection disappearing and maybe even some household items.

Here in Memphis, Tennessee we no longer have Rite Aid or Freds so our options for prescriptions and such has taken a hit. CVS appears to be planning to open more personal health clinics. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by klkla »

MSSportsGuy wrote: January 21st, 2020, 4:01 amHowever, I can honestly see a day where the front end of a CVS will look very different than what it does today. They will probably always carry vitamins and personal care items but I can see the limited junk food selection disappearing and maybe even some household items.
The junk food and household items are probably what makes the difference between being profitable and not profitable for a lot of their stores.

Think of it this way: Anything that you buy at CVS on impulse when going there goes straight to the bottom line. They don't have to sell those items at a discount or below cost. Removing them would be corporate suicide.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by storewanderer »

My main complaint about CVS is their pricing is outrageous and some stores are so so thinly stocked. Their everyday shelf pricing is above even Rite Aid and Walgreens. I too use them for a number of items with the Extra Bucks and often end up not paying much more than sales tax, but sometimes their prices are so high it isn't even worth it.

It doesn't help that the location closest to me has all regular prices set 10% above the other locations around town as of last summer for no good reason (luckily there are 4 other locations within about a 7 minute radius of it all on the lower scale).

I prefer the function of the Rite Aid program (credit accumulates and processes like a form of payment vs. like a coupon) as far as the promotions go. But CVS has a lot more offers.

CVS has pretty much killed the liquor business which was a big business for Longs and Sav-On who previously ran the local stores. I assume it was profitable but they don't seem to be missing it. The front ends are sure dead in the CVS Stores, very very little volume. Pharmacies are backed up but the rest of the store is like a morgue, literally.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by buckguy »

I'm surprised they didn't prune the 24 hour operations a long time ago--that model works better if it only applied to a small number of locations.

I would guess that liquor requires more paperwork and oversight because of regulation and if you don't have it in all your stores it becomes a problematic in terms of require specialized management experience, tailoring local ads, etc. It's probably also dependent on high volume/low margin promotions. Walgreens has gone in and out of the liquor business more than once. They used to have liquor in a large proportion of their Chicago stores and were known as the price leader for high volume lines like cheap and popular priced beers, then they phased it out because it wasn't a big contributor to drug store volumes or their bottom line. Now, I understand they have been bringing it back.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by BillyGr »

buckguy wrote: January 22nd, 2020, 6:09 am I would guess that liquor requires more paperwork and oversight because of regulation and if you don't have it in all your stores it becomes a problematic in terms of require specialized management experience, tailoring local ads, etc. It's probably also dependent on high volume/low margin promotions. Walgreens has gone in and out of the liquor business more than once. They used to have liquor in a large proportion of their Chicago stores and were known as the price leader for high volume lines like cheap and popular priced beers, then they phased it out because it wasn't a big contributor to drug store volumes or their bottom line. Now, I understand they have been bringing it back.
Just looking quickly, it looks like Rhode Island (where CVS came from) has fairly restrictive laws on who can sell liquor, and many of the other states they would have expanded to early on (New England and NY/NJ areas) also have more restrictions than other places on what a drugstore would be allowed to sell, so they may have just gotten used to those rules and not been as interested in going further as they moved into places where they could do so.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by Brian Lutz »

I've been to a CVS location on the Las Vegas strip where it seemed like half the store was liquor (including some really expensive bottles with prices as high as $400) but it seems like most of them have fairly small liquor sections.

It may also be that selling age-restricted products in general can be more trouble than it's worth. CVS stopped selling tobacco products in 2017, and last year Walgreen's got into some trouble with the FDA over underage tobacco sales which led them to raise the age for tobacco purchases to 21. I'm guessing that alcohol age restrictions get enforced more often than tobacco age restrictions, but either way there seems to be a fair bit of scrutiny.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by Alpha8472 »

CVS kept two 24 hour stores in the former headquarters city of Longs Drugs. They are dead compared to when Longs Drugs ran them as flagship stores. The huge liquor and fine wines sections are now shrunken. They are locked up behind gates at night.

The only reason why these stores are still open 24 hours is due to the fact that Safeway closes at 2 AM. Where else are people going to buy liquor and junk food late at night? The convenience stores here do not have much of a selection of liquor. The pharmacies are not even open 24 hours. What is the use if you can't get prescriptions late at night. Then again, these stores are easy to staff with 1 cashier and virtually no customers.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by klkla »

Alpha8472 wrote: January 23rd, 2020, 12:08 pmThe only reason why these stores are still open 24 hours is due to the fact that Safeway closes at 2 AM. Where else are people going to buy liquor and junk food late at night?
Not at CVS. California law does not allow the sale of alcoholic beverages between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Seems like Safeway has the right idea by closing at 2.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by Super S »

klkla wrote: January 23rd, 2020, 2:31 pm
Alpha8472 wrote: January 23rd, 2020, 12:08 pmThe only reason why these stores are still open 24 hours is due to the fact that Safeway closes at 2 AM. Where else are people going to buy liquor and junk food late at night?
Not at CVS. California law does not allow the sale of alcoholic beverages between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Seems like Safeway has the right idea by closing at 2.
I don't know how CVS did things, but Walgreens did operate 24 hour pharmacies in many of their 24 hour stores (which were only present in selected locations to begin with) I know the one in Vancouver, WA was like this long before the end of state-run liquor stores.
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Re: CVS and cutting store hours

Post by storewanderer »

CVS has one store in my area in Sparks that is 24 hours. That was a 24 hour store as Sav-On from the early 90's on and I don't think the store has ever closed since the early 90's. However there was a period under Sav-On and then under CVS where the pharmacy was not 24 hours. I have gone to this store a number of times late at night and it was funny back when it was Sav-On it had a good trickle of customers for front store and pharmacy all night. Now with CVS the only customers are pharmacy and front store overnight is pretty slow. That intersection at one time had 24 hour Albertsons and Safeway (both gone) so they do have the corner on 24 hour service at a busy intersection around a lot of houses and apartments.

This particular store, even under Sav-On, put a gate over liquor after 10 PM and you had to have a clerk come open the liquor. The liquor department was positioned adjacent to the store entrance (had its own checkout as Sav-On) and the checkstands were placed in a way the cashier had their back to the liquor area (also had their back to the door - not a great design for a 24 hour store).

Longs had a 24 hour store in Sparks as well which was inherited from Rite Aid (it was 24 hours as Rite Aid too- built as a new store that way). Longs operation of the 24 hour store was poor. Pharmacy routinely closed on holidays. The store really had little traffic and there wasn't much reason for it to be open given the Sav-On/CVS was a few blocks away in a more visible location and had established itself as offering 24 hour service for years. CVS ultimately closed that location as Longs (did not convert it to CVS).
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