Albertsons to buy (what's left of) RiteAid

[storewanderer]

If anyone is going to operate strip mall large format drug stores, it will be Albertsons. Walgreens definitely would not have had an interest in those.

CVS does a job ranging from pathetic to beyond pathetic with 90% of their former Longs and Sav-Ons out here in Reno/Sparks/Carson City and from what I see in NorCal it isn't much better.

Operationally I like the thought of Albertsons buying Rite Aid. As a Rite Aid shareholder.... it is another story.

[rwsandiego]

...CVS does a job ranging from pathetic to beyond pathetic with 90% of their former Longs and Sav-Ons out here in Reno/Sparks/Carson City and from what I see in NorCal it isn't much better....

CVS has done a pathetic job with the SavOns they acquired in San Diego County. Even the newer ones became abysmal. They didn't do quite as poorly with the acquired Longs, but the Longs ranged from disgusting to newly-remodeled. The disgusting ones improved slightly and the newly-remodeled ones remained decent. I just can't get accustomed to carpeting in a drugstore. It's weird to me.

[lola42]

I wonder if they'll keep doing drive thru pharmacy? Rite Aid has some. CVS has been relentless about drive thru. Not sure about Albertsons.

[pseudo3d]

I wonder if they'll keep doing drive thru pharmacy? Rite Aid has some. CVS has been relentless about drive thru. Not sure about Albertsons.

Why wouldn't they? A lot of the Albertsons stores (including the Safeway ones) have drive-through pharmacies.

[storewanderer]

I've never seen a Safeway operation with a drive through pharmacy. It would not fit with their layout where pharmacy was customarily placed at the middle of the back wall. Maybe they exist, but I've never seen one.

However Albertsons has been building its stores with drive through pharmacies since the early 00's. Not every store got one, but quite a few stores did. The very last stores built by the company in the 2004-2006 period pretty much all had drive through pharmacies.

[Jeff]

The Vons (former Pavilions) in Arcadia has a drive thru on the side of the store in a driveway that goes to the main street.

[storewanderer]

Interesting. Who installed that drive through?

[Super S]

I've never seen a Safeway operation with a drive through pharmacy. It would not fit with their layout where pharmacy was customarily placed at the middle of the back wall. Maybe they exist, but I've never seen one.

However Albertsons has been building its stores with drive through pharmacies since the early 00's. Not every store got one, but quite a few stores did. The very last stores built by the company in the 2004-2006 period pretty much all had drive through pharmacies.

The Safeway on Ocean Beach Highway in Longview, WA has a drive-thru pharmacy. But it is in an unusual location, at the left front corner of the store as you walk in. This was retained through various remodels even though it received an extensive early Lifestyle remodel where the entire interior was gutted. It is worth noting that this location was originally a PayLess Drug store, and was a Keil's before becoming Safeway, however, I am not sure if it was Keil's or Safeway that installed the drive-thru. I don't think it was PayLess as the store was built sometime in the 1970s.

I have noticed that Safeway (pre-Albertsons) tended to keep certain aspects of interior layouts unchanged in acquired stores. The former TOP Foods in Kelso, WA (which became Safeway) still has the pharmacy, bakery, and deli in the original TOP locations.

[BillyGr]

I've never seen a Safeway operation with a drive through pharmacy. It would not fit with their layout where pharmacy was customarily placed at the middle of the back wall. Maybe they exist, but I've never seen one.

However Albertsons has been building its stores with drive through pharmacies since the early 00's. Not every store got one, but quite a few stores did. The very last stores built by the company in the 2004-2006 period pretty much all had drive through pharmacies.

We have one Price Chopper here where the drive up pharmacy spot is on the totally opposite side of the building from the actual pharmacy. That store was built just prior to them starting their Market 32 conversions, so not that many years back. The drive up is just a tube (like you often see at banks) and I believe a screen/camera setup to see the people inside and outside.

Something like that could be used anywhere, it would seem.

[Super S]

I've never seen a Safeway operation with a drive through pharmacy. It would not fit with their layout where pharmacy was customarily placed at the middle of the back wall. Maybe they exist, but I've never seen one.

However Albertsons has been building its stores with drive through pharmacies since the early 00's. Not every store got one, but quite a few stores did. The very last stores built by the company in the 2004-2006 period pretty much all had drive through pharmacies.

We have one Price Chopper here where the drive up pharmacy spot is on the totally opposite side of the building from the actual pharmacy. That store was built just prior to them starting their Market 32 conversions, so not that many years back. The drive up is just a tube (like you often see at banks) and I believe a screen/camera setup to see the people inside and outside.

Something like that could be used anywhere, it would seem.

There is one newer Walmart near me that has the pharmacy in an "island" next to the grocery department, towards the back of the store. They use the tube setup for the drive-thru here.

I know of one instance where even Kmart, about 10 years ago, added a drive-thru pharmacy to the front of a 1970s store in Chehalis, WA. It has a conventional window. That store is in the process of closing though.

Looking at the general layout of Safeway and Albertsons stores over the years, I have noticed that Safeway builds a lot of stores close to the edge of the lot in urban settings and with those there really isn't room for a drive-thru. The stores in strip malls in some cases could support this but it depends on the layout. But a pharmacy toward the rear competes with loading docks for space and a tube setup would be the only option there. Albertsons stores tend to be in more suburban settings such as strip malls, and have pharmacies located on the side or toward the front and could be more easily adapted if the store is on the end.