Acme branding in-store pharmacies Sav-On?

[steps]

Hey Guys! I just noticed on the Supervalu Pharmacy website that Acme Markets is now branding their in-store pharmacies Sav-On. Isn't Acme in Osco Territory? What would be the reasoning of using the Sav-On banner in an area where Sav-On never existed? Also, they aren’t using the “Pharmacy” part in Sav-On.

[submariner]

I suppose it depends on how strong a penetration Osco had in the market. Right now, the Sav•on Brand is used for Acme, and most Albertsons. The Osco name is currently attached to some Albertsons, Jewel-Osco (obviously), and Shaw's. All the other SuperValu stores seem to be retaining their own pharmacy branding.

The Acme Sav•on (spelled "Savon"??) site shows the "Pharmacy" attached to the logo:

http://www.acmesavonpharmacies.com

[Alpha8472]

I think that Sav-On has a better ring to it than Osco. Osco doesn't have a meaning, but Sav-On conjures up the idea of saving money since it has the word save in it. That could attract people to check out the pharmacies.

Supermarket pharmacies have taken a hit since Target and Walmart began offering $4 generic prescriptions. A simple name change would not cost much, and I'm sure Supervalu is desperate to make money in any way it can in the pharmacy department.

[storewanderer]

What supermarket pharmacies have taken a hit? Kroger quickly matched the program offered by Target and Wal Mart with $4 generics and their pharmacies in my area are very busy; three of them have drive through facilities (not present at any other supermarket in this area). I am also aware of grocers elsewhere that have come up with matches or even counter offers to Wal Mart's offer, such as Publix in the south offering some prescriptions for free.

Safeway I believe is also matching this offer in some of their divisions.

I have noticed a significant drop in pharmacy activity at the former Albertsons Stores in this area (now Save Mart) compared to when they were Albertsons. That seems to just correlate to the general store traffic though.

Raleys and Scolaris pharmacies continue to look as busy as ever, though run with pretty limited hours.

[krogerclerk]

Albertson's initiated the use of Acme Sav-on prior to the breakup of the company. I don't think any of the bannering happened until recently. Pennsylvania was never Osco or Sav-on territory, but Osco operated closest to Penn. Shaw's was bannered Shaw's Osco, due to Massachusetts and New England being former Osco territory, Osco had been sold to Brooks, thus is now Rite Aid in New England. American Stores drug chain in PA was Rea&Derrick, which was sold several years back to Rite Aid, around the time American Stores acquired Lucky Stores.

Albertson's adapted Albertson's Sav-on from Lucky's Sav-on in California, and decided to use co-branding company wide for the combo food-drug stores, of which Jewel Osco was the most prevalent. Buttrey Osco had existed in the past as well. Skaggs Alpha Beta and Skaggs-Albertson's were past examples of ASC and ABS using co-branding for food-drug combo units. In Arizona and Omaha(just prior to ABS selling the stores there), Albertson's Osco was used as the co-banner.

CVS acquired the freestanding Osco and Sav-on Drug stores and converted them to CVS, while SVU retained the naming rights to Osco and Sav-on drugs for use in the combo stores, as they are doing, or to revive them as freestanding units, a highly unlikely prospect, but allowable.

The pharmacy customer is the customer most likely to stay loyal to a store, thus the importance of pharmacies to modern supermarkets. People may go to see a new competitor's grand opening, but a pharmacy customer is less likely to transfer his/her prescription and thus continue shopping for groceries at the same store. It comes down to a simple growing sales by getting the same customer to spend more in the same place rather than the more expensive method of growing sales by adding customers.

[Alpha8472]

In my area, the Safeway pharmacies don't seem to be doing very well. I'm not sure, since I am not there all day long, but from what I have seen they don't have the long lines at the Pharmacies like at CVS or Walgreens. At CVS and Walgreens you have long lines and lots of patients sitting around. Safeway doesn't have that. In fact, a lot of the time the pharmacy people look like they are just standing around doing nothing.

I have not seen any signs at my local supermarket pharmacies that advertise $4 generics. I haven't asked about the prices, but I really don't trust supermarket pharmacies. Supermarket pharmacies have limited hours and some are even closed for lunch. I'd rather have my prescriptions at a true drug store that is open reasonable hours.

Only some medications are included on the $4 list. The rest of the drugs are full price and most people don't want to be overcharged at a supermarket. I'm sure Target and Walmart would have lower prices on drugs that aren't on the $4 list. Supermarket pharmacies are not the low price leader for drugs. The over the counter products at supermarkets are priced absurdly high and I refuse to buy those products at a supermarket. I would rather go to a drug store instead where I can get a better selection at a much better price.

[steps]

True it does have "phamacy", but it's not in the name like "Acme Sav-On Pharmacy" it just says "Acme Sav On" with pharmacy under the whole name. Albertsons uses the full "Sav On Phamacy" name in all sigange and advertising. I was just wondering why they would make it different.

[storewanderer]

I find most supermarket pharmacies to have a steady stream of customers in the daytime hours then as evening hits they seem to slow down with as you describe, the staff standing around. It is not uncommon for pharmacies to close for lunch; Target, Rite Aid, CVS, and Wal Mart close their pharmacies sometimes for lunch but not all of the time. Closing the pharmacy for lunch is standard procedure at the NV Save Mart Stores but I don't know of anywhere else that does that every single day.

The remaining Reno Safeway used to have a pharmacy that was open 6 AM to 2 AM since it did very good volume, but I think its volume has dropped off over the years as it now has (significantly) shorter hours. I have seen one or two Kroger owned stores with 24 hour pharmacies, I think in AZ.

Albertsons LLC has been aggressive with the discounted generics and extended its program to include $2, $3, and $4 price points on many private label over the counter items. Smiths copied this program on the OTC items but I haven't seen it at any other Kroger divisions. The prices are very competitive (most items are 25%-60+% below the drugstores or other grocers). Given that a lot of the brand name OTC items were already included in the EDLP program at Smiths, the reductions on the private label OTC items have made them very, very price competitive on the drug category. With the margins as high as they are on private label OTC items, I am surprised more stores don't try to compete.

What is with Save Mart on private label OTC items? As Albertsons the stores had heavy, heavy promotion on drug items and Save Mart has all but stopped having any kind of price promotion. To make matters worse, their regular retails are significantly higher than Albertsons was for the same items and they have cut out all kinds of the selection (I think some of this is due to SVU cutting items).