1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

marshd1000
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 587
Joined: March 2nd, 2009, 1:46 pm
Been thanked: 12 times
Status: Offline

1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by marshd1000 »

I just saw a article that is surmising that maybe CVS/Pharmacy may build it's first Seattle area outlet in Burien, Washington, one of Seattle's suburbs. Here is the article:

http://www.highlinetimes.com/2013/07/01 ... al-busines
User avatar
KingU8ol0Soopers
Subject Matter Expert
Subject Matter Expert
Posts: 67
Joined: November 28th, 2011, 4:50 pm
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by KingU8ol0Soopers »

Any ideas on why it's taken CVS so long to expand to some of these western states? (Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming currently do not have CVS stores in them).
Forum Moderator
Alpha8472
Posts: 3929
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 8:55 pm
Been thanked: 79 times
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by Alpha8472 »

CVS is being cautious. Those Western states already have lots of local chains with loyal customers. CVS probably planned on purchasing a local chain like they did with Longs Drugs. However, the local chains in those states either are not selling or are too debt ridden or costly to buy.

CVS doesn't want to go into an area and fail especially if Walgreens already has a presence in the area. If there is only one CVS in an area, then people probably won't want to patronize that single store for their prescriptions. People want to be able to be in any city and conveniently pick up their prescriptions at any branch of a chain pharmacy. If CVS enters a state, they need to have a distribution center and that could cost a lot of money. They would want to take over a local chain with a distribution center or be prepared to open tons of stores along with a distribution center all at once.
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by Super S »

A lot of the local drug store chains have already been gobbled up. Pay 'N Save was taken over by PayLess Drug. PayLess was taken over by Rite Aid, and has had mixed results. Hi-School Pharmacy of Vancouver, WA was mostly taken over by Walgreens. In Washington, about the only local drugstore chain left is Bartell Drug, which is concentrated in the Seattle area.

CVS would have to make a pretty hefty investment to have a presence up here. With the current state of the economy, I do not see that happening unless a competitor folds.
Brian Lutz
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1425
Joined: March 1st, 2009, 5:51 pm
Location: Piedmont Triad, NC
Been thanked: 56 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by Brian Lutz »

The only way I could see CVS getting any traction around here is if they made an aggressive (and presumably risky) push to open a large number of locations in a relatively short amount of time. Even if a lot of the stores haven't kept up well with the times Rite Aid is still firmly entrenched here, and Walgreen's seems to be fairly aggressive about expanding their store count here right now. Meanwhile Bartell Drugs seems content to do their own thing, sticking to their own niche and slowly expanding as opportunities present themselves. Walmart is taking steps to sneak into areas they've had a hard time getting into with the Neighborhood Markets and smaller stores as well, and Target has added pharmacies to most of their stores here too.

CVS would find a rather crowded market to contend with if they tried to expand into this area. Not to say they wouldn't try, but it's far from a safe bet.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by storewanderer »

CVS has not been doing much building in NorCal. I do not think the Longs purchase has been terribly successful. I have also noticed their NorCal sale ads have way lower prices on many items than the Nevada circular.

Also the 15,600 square feet is a lot larger than the standard CVS model.

Bartell, there is something both CVS and Walgreens would love to buy. Bartell actually reminds me most of CVS. It would be a very seamless transition from a merchandising perspective. I am glad to see Bartell remain independent and hope that status does not change.
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by Super S »

Brian Lutz wrote:The only way I could see CVS getting any traction around here is if they made an aggressive (and presumably risky) push to open a large number of locations in a relatively short amount of time. Even if a lot of the stores haven't kept up well with the times Rite Aid is still firmly entrenched here, and Walgreen's seems to be fairly aggressive about expanding their store count here right now. Meanwhile Bartell Drugs seems content to do their own thing, sticking to their own niche and slowly expanding as opportunities present themselves. Walmart is taking steps to sneak into areas they've had a hard time getting into with the Neighborhood Markets and smaller stores as well, and Target has added pharmacies to most of their stores here too.

CVS would find a rather crowded market to contend with if they tried to expand into this area. Not to say they wouldn't try, but it's far from a safe bet.
Rite Aid may seem firmly entrenched. However, they have been very spotty with rebuilding/remodeling the acquired former PayLess/Pay 'N Save locations. There are a few that, 15+ years after being acquired by Rite Aid, are still open and still have not been remodeled in any way, a few even still have Pay 'N Save and PayLess interiors. Rite Aid has closed a few of these older ones and built new stores to replace them, while other locations have simply closed with no replacement. Some of the older, unremodeled locations are rather large, and Rite Aid simply uses shelves to block off areas of the stores.

Rite Aid also suffers from very low customer traffic in some locations, to the point that it seems like a miracle the store can generate enough business to stay open.

Meanwhile, Walgreens has mostly built new, freestanding locations, and has updated the interiors in most of their stores. Their stores are also a lot busier, at least in my area.
Alpha8472
Posts: 3929
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 8:55 pm
Been thanked: 79 times
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by Alpha8472 »

Walgreens does seem to do a better job of remodeling their stores. They have been aggressively remodeling all of their stores in my area to their latest decor. However, Walgreens is still the highest priced drug store in my area. The prices are absurd and border on convenience store price gouging. Yet, people still flock to their newly remodeled stores.

It just shows that customers are very sensitive to appearance. Newly remodeled stores attract customers even though the prices are absurd at Walgreens, they seem to avoid those unremodeled Rite Aid stores in favor of clean looking Walgreens stores.

Rite Aid needs to get going on remodeling their stores. They are losing customers to Walgreens just based on perceived store appearance.

I have also noticed that there is something about those CVS stores that really turns off customers. It is the carpeting. The ugly gray carpeting gets really dirty. It really soaks up the dust and mud. It just makes you feel like the store is dirty and dingy. CVS in my area is doing quite badly. The stores are empty most of the time. They used to be Longs Drugs stores, but after CVS remodeled them, the loyal customers of Longs all seemed to disappear. There is something really wrong with CVS' decor. The huge cardboard department signs in obnoxiously bright colors makes the entire store seem like a cheap low quality place. The ugly gray carpeting is so 70s. The CVS decor simply has no appeal. Nothing about the store makes me want to come back. The prices are high, the decor is cheap and ugly, and the customer service is non-existent. CVS has terrible staffing levels. There are no employees to help you find anything. The shelves are frequently empty because there are not enough employees to stock them. Everything about CVS shouts cheapskate company. It totally shows and the customers can feel it and choose to go elsewhere.
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by Super S »

Alpha8472 wrote:Walgreens does seem to do a better job of remodeling their stores. They have been aggressively remodeling all of their stores in my area to their latest decor. However, Walgreens is still the highest priced drug store in my area. The prices are absurd and border on convenience store price gouging. Yet, people still flock to their newly remodeled stores.

It just shows that customers are very sensitive to appearance. Newly remodeled stores attract customers even though the prices are absurd at Walgreens, they seem to avoid those unremodeled Rite Aid stores in favor of clean looking Walgreens stores.
Rite Aid is not any better when it comes to pricing. They, like Walgreens, price a lot of items absurdly high and require the use of a loyalty card to make the price somewhat reasonable. Rite Aid implemented this almost immediately when they took over PayLess. Walgreens, in my area, is actually slightly better on shelf (non-card) prices.
BillyGr
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1579
Joined: October 5th, 2010, 7:33 pm
Been thanked: 58 times
Status: Offline

Re: 1st CVS/Pharmacy in Washington?

Post by BillyGr »

[quote="Super S]
Rite Aid may seem firmly entrenched. However, they have been very spotty with rebuilding/remodeling the acquired former PayLess/Pay 'N Save locations. There are a few that, 15+ years after being acquired by Rite Aid, are still open and still have not been remodeled in any way, a few even still have Pay 'N Save and PayLess interiors. Rite Aid has closed a few of these older ones and built new stores to replace them, while other locations have simply closed with no replacement. Some of the older, unremodeled locations are rather large, and Rite Aid simply uses shelves to block off areas of the stores.

Rite Aid also suffers from very low customer traffic in some locations, to the point that it seems like a miracle the store can generate enough business to stay open.
[/quote]

Maybe these two points together make it work - if you don't spend much on the stores, you don't need as much coming in to pay the lower operation costs?
Post Reply