New anti-theft Walgreens store has just 2 aisles of touchable merchandise

[storewanderer]

One of the last places I want "kiosk ordering" is a drugstore.

I don't want to stand there around a bunch of people to place my order for a variety of reasons (sickness concerns, potentially sensitive purchases, etc.) and I certainly don't want to touch a kiosk 100 times to find an item and run my payment that 20 drugstore customers touched in the past hour.

Another idea I have for these clowns:

Lock 100% of every aisle. Give the customers a cheap handheld device/scanner to go through and scan the shelf tag of whatever product they want to buy. Once they are done shopping have employees pick the order, pay for it at a standard register, then they pick your order. This would be very labor intensive and I think there would have to be a service promise like guaranteed order pick in 5 minutes or something (could do a higher time limit for more than 10 items or something).

Basically the old Scan & Go/Scan Bag Go concept but you don't actually get to get the item yourself...

[BillyGr]

Lock 100% of every aisle. Give the customers a cheap handheld device/scanner to go through and scan the shelf tag of whatever product they want to buy. Once they are done shopping have employees pick the order, pay for it at a standard register, then they pick your order. This would be very labor intensive and I think there would have to be a service promise like guaranteed order pick in 5 minutes or something (could do a higher time limit for more than 10 items or something).

Basically the old Scan & Go/Scan Bag Go concept but you don't actually get to get the item yourself...

Basically, like the old-style service drugstores, but you don't have to know what you want when entering as you can still see what is available and then order it.

[ClownLoach]

i have a feeling that soon enough, that they might try a curbside pickup/delivery only model where all items must be preordered from the website to keep shoplifters out.

The way these people have handled shoplifters I'm not sure if this new format will change anything. They've let multiple people jump right over the front counter and bag up the high dollar items from the secured area as seen on the multiple videos from the Bay area. The cashiers just get out of their way. What's going to stop them from jumping the pickup counter with bags and sweeping through the "warehouse" sales floor? I doubt Walgreens will stop them. I give it a week before someone does exactly that. Then they probably will have to move to a complete advance order model with a very secured, bank-like backroom.

[storewanderer]

i have a feeling that soon enough, that they might try a curbside pickup/delivery only model where all items must be preordered from the website to keep shoplifters out.

The way these people have handled shoplifters I'm not sure if this new format will change anything. They've let multiple people jump right over the front counter and bag up the high dollar items from the secured area as seen on the multiple videos from the Bay area. The cashiers just get out of their way. What's going to stop them from jumping the pickup counter with bags and sweeping through the "warehouse" sales floor? I doubt Walgreens will stop them. I give it a week before someone does exactly that. Then they probably will have to move to a complete advance order model with a very secured, bank-like backroom.

If they end up with a model like this they will be able to severely cut SKUs. They won't need any seasonal anymore, can cut most of food, much of cosmetics, much of the extra stuff like light tools/plastic drink containers/extension cords etc., the entire front "electronics" wall, and then they can reduce it to about a 5k square foot space.

I wonder what manufacturers who pay for shelf space (eye level, etc.) to slot product will think about this. Or provide promotional dollars to send shippers of their items to Walgreens to be displayed on endcaps in an effort for their product to be more visible.

[buckguy]

i have a feeling that soon enough, that they might try a curbside pickup/delivery only model where all items must be preordered from the website to keep shoplifters out.

The way these people have handled shoplifters I'm not sure if this new format will change anything. They've let multiple people jump right over the front counter and bag up the high dollar items from the secured area as seen on the multiple videos from the Bay area. The cashiers just get out of their way. What's going to stop them from jumping the pickup counter with bags and sweeping through the "warehouse" sales floor? I doubt Walgreens will stop them. I give it a week before someone does exactly that. Then they probably will have to move to a complete advance order model with a very secured, bank-like backroom.

If they end up with a model like this they will be able to severely cut SKUs. They won't need any seasonal anymore, can cut most of food, much of cosmetics, much of the extra stuff like light tools/plastic drink containers/extension cords etc., the entire front "electronics" wall, and then they can reduce it to about a 5k square foot space.

I wonder what manufacturers who pay for shelf space (eye level, etc.) to slot product will think about this. Or provide promotional dollars to send shippers of their items to Walgreens to be displayed on endcaps in an effort for their product to be more visible.

The first generation of discount drug chains like Revco did pretty much what you describe, although they kept cosmetics (which have a large markup) but the household items, seasonal stuff, etc. were gone. It worked for Revco, until they over expanded and fell apart in a leveraged buyout.

There's no reason that drug stores have to operate as they currently do. They used to have all kinds of things (soda fountains, service cosmetic counters, huge newstands, tvs, radios, etc.) that they don't now.

[veteran+]

Perhaps we should steer back to the days before self serve. Clarence Saunders would be sad and disappointed!

Everything behind staffed counters.

Oh wait......................too much payroll so they will make do with theft.

[BillyGr]

If they end up with a model like this they will be able to severely cut SKUs. They won't need any seasonal anymore, can cut most of food, much of cosmetics, much of the extra stuff like light tools/plastic drink containers/extension cords etc., the entire front "electronics" wall, and then they can reduce it to about a 5k square foot space.

I wonder what manufacturers who pay for shelf space (eye level, etc.) to slot product will think about this. Or provide promotional dollars to send shippers of their items to Walgreens to be displayed on endcaps in an effort for their product to be more visible.

No reason to get rid of(most of the) items - people know what they have (and those types of items are often advertised in ads), so they would still be ordered, maybe not quite as much but not that they would never get ordered at all.

If they were to enclose the picking section with something visible but still secure, they could just line up those displays behind that wall so those placing orders can see them as well.

[rwsandiego]

I see this format being implemented at stores that are similar to this one: 24-hour stores located in transitional neighborhoods across from a large late-night grocery store. In this case, the South Loop/Near South Side has experienced a lot of upper-income development over the years, but surrounding neighborhoods are still struggling and experience a lot of crime. The Jewel-Osco a half-block away is open until midnight. I can see local residents liking this format when they need to run out for something late at night. Simply order online and pick it up.

[storewanderer]

I see this format being implemented at stores that are similar to this one: 24-hour stores located in transitional neighborhoods across from a large late-night grocery store. In this case, the South Loop/Near South Side has experienced a lot of upper-income development over the years, but surrounding neighborhoods are still struggling and experience a lot of crime. The Jewel-Osco a half-block away is open until midnight. I can see local residents liking this format when they need to run out for something late at night. Simply order online and pick it up.

Or just go to Jewel where there is still a full assortment of items to pick from...? Probably faster to go and do that than wait for Walgreens to fulfill an online order...

I also expect this store will no longer be 24 hours very soon.

[rwsandiego]

I see this format being implemented at stores that are similar to this one: 24-hour stores located in transitional neighborhoods across from a large late-night grocery store. In this case, the South Loop/Near South Side has experienced a lot of upper-income development over the years, but surrounding neighborhoods are still struggling and experience a lot of crime. The Jewel-Osco a half-block away is open until midnight. I can see local residents liking this format when they need to run out for something late at night. Simply order online and pick it up.

Or just go to Jewel where there is still a full assortment of items to pick from...? Probably faster to go and do that than wait for Walgreens to fulfill an online order...

That's my point. After midnight, I can see running out to Walgreens. Before midnight, go to Jewel-Osco. Not even sure why this Walgreens exists on this corner. Maybe they think South Loop residents are fans of Big Roll toilet paper?