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Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 6th, 2017, 10:01 am
by Super S
I always found it interesting that Albertsons didn't try to resurrect the Osco name in Boise when they tried the standalone Sav-On stores. It was previously associated with Buttrey, but when the Skaggs stores became Osco, Buttrey lost the Osco name.

Noting how quickly the standalone Sav-On stores in Boise vanished, it gives the impression that Albertsons doesn't really want to be in the standalone drug store business...I don't see them taking over Rite Aid. I also don't see them combining where Rite Aid is next to Albertsons or Safeway. Although many examples exist where the stores are side by side, in recent years they have moved or simply closed many of those locations. Some strip mall owners have the final say in what they could do not to mention local zoning laws.

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 6th, 2017, 3:04 pm
by marshd1000
mbz321 wrote:.....Maybe they thought Acme-Osco sounded odd). But it did absolutely nothing for Acme. As stores have been remodeled, most have lost the Sav-On branding, although for some reason, a few have had new Sav-On signage go up (at least inside the store), through very recent remodels.
Would it be possible that in some limited circumstances the use Osco or Sav-On just to protect the trademark? Remember they almost lost use of Lucky when Grocery Outlet rebranded a store as Lucky?

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 6th, 2017, 7:39 pm
by pseudo3d
Super S wrote:I always found it interesting that Albertsons didn't try to resurrect the Osco name in Boise when they tried the standalone Sav-On stores. It was previously associated with Buttrey, but when the Skaggs stores became Osco, Buttrey lost the Osco name.

Noting how quickly the standalone Sav-On stores in Boise vanished, it gives the impression that Albertsons doesn't really want to be in the standalone drug store business...I don't see them taking over Rite Aid. I also don't see them combining where Rite Aid is next to Albertsons or Safeway. Although many examples exist where the stores are side by side, in recent years they have moved or simply closed many of those locations. Some strip mall owners have the final say in what they could do not to mention local zoning laws.
Buttery lost the Osco name because in 1990, American Stores (which owned the Osco name at the time), spun off the chain. It wasn't related to the purchase of American Stores in 1999.

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 6th, 2017, 7:55 pm
by rwsandiego
marshd1000 wrote:
mbz321 wrote:.....Maybe they thought Acme-Osco sounded odd). But it did absolutely nothing for Acme. As stores have been remodeled, most have lost the Sav-On branding, although for some reason, a few have had new Sav-On signage go up (at least inside the store), through very recent remodels.
Would it be possible that in some limited circumstances the use Osco or Sav-On just to protect the trademark? Remember they almost lost use of Lucky when Grocery Outlet rebranded a store as Lucky?
Possible, but they use "Osco" with its "Jewel-Osco" stores and a handful of Albertsons in California (where SavOn had a very large presence and was based prior to Jewel acquiring it) were branded "Albertsons-SavOn." That would have been sufficient to maintain use of the trademark. I always thought they tried to replicate Jewel-Osco, but simply rebranding an Albertsons as "Albertson's-Osco" or "Albertsons-SavOn" does not a combo store make. Nor does "Acme-SavOn" make sense, given SavOn was never used in the eastern parts of the country. "Acme-Osco" might have made more sense, but I think even that was a stretch, given Osco did not have a presence in Acme's territory.

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 6th, 2017, 10:26 pm
by storewanderer
They really did make a legitimate combo store in the Reno and Phoenix markets when they did Albertsons Sav-On and Albertsons Osco. Those stores had all of the drug SKUs that the freestanding stores had. The layout Albertsons often used (horizontal aisles mostly drug, vertical aisles all food) actually helped to make the Osco or Sav-On side stand out. Unfortunately, in some stores that came at the expense of food where food shelf space was cut and squeezed all onto the vertical aisles, yet the horizontal aisles were full of drug items and very, very spacious. As Save Mart has operated the previous Albertsons/Sav-On combos in Reno, they have done every trick in the book to try and fill up space that they have no clue how to merchandise and do not do enough sales volume to really support. They've taken out aisles. They've made aisles shorter in length. They've made aisles shorter in height. It is really quite pathetic. Albertsons was able to fully merchandise these stores before they were combo stores without those sorts of tricks. Then again, that was before Wal-Mart...

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 9th, 2017, 11:49 pm
by CalItalian

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 10th, 2017, 11:25 am
by storewanderer
I wonder what will happen to Fred's. They've blown a ton of money on trying to make this deal work. So has Rite Aid, but I feel like Rite Aid can absorb that better than Fred's can.

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 10th, 2017, 10:19 pm
by pseudo3d
storewanderer wrote:I wonder what will happen to Fred's. They've blown a ton of money on trying to make this deal work. So has Rite Aid, but I feel like Rite Aid can absorb that better than Fred's can.
Rite Aid had the contract rewritten that they would not get a termination bonus, not sure on Fred's. Unless Fred's sold their soul to try to make it work, they'll probably end up closing stores (not that they wouldn't have before). They DO live, though, as buying Rite Aid's castoffs would've spelled doom for them.

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 10th, 2017, 11:49 pm
by storewanderer
The costs to Rite Aid are significant as they have lost 2/3 of their market cap this year but I still think they can come out of this okay. It may take them a couple years but I think they can recover as a stand alone company, as they had been doing for so long now. They are obviously never going to overtake Walgreens or CVS but they were positioned as a strongish third place contender and slowly but surely improving their stores.

Rite Aid operated on the brink of death for nearly a decade after the late 90's scandal(s). It was really good financial management (started by Bob Miller) and some luck (low interest rates) that enabled that company to continue as it did without filing bankruptcy. The company's position today is much stronger. They have a lower store count but they have far better stores. I think the Eckerd purchase which caused the company to over-extend itself for a few years has actually worked out somewhat okay now. Over half of the chain is now remodeled into "Wellness Stores" and the stores look great and my experiences with their stores and service (albeit most of my experiences are in California where they are strong) continues to yield well staffed stores that are stocked okay and run quite a few good promotions. Pharmacies seem staffed well and I do not see long lines, yelling customers, hear phones ringing off the hook, or a very serious recorded deep voice coming out of the phone or something that makes me feel stressed just hearing it passing by the pharmacy that says quickly and urgently "ONE PHARMACY CALL" like I hear at a certain other large pharmacy chain whenever I walk by its pharmacy, etc.

Re: Walgreens Close To Buying Rite Aid

Posted: June 12th, 2017, 6:34 pm
by storewanderer
Fred's sure seems to be pushing for this deal to happen:

http://www.drugstorenews.com/article/fr ... aid-stores

Ironic since it seems like Fred's is the reason the deal is not going to go through...