Content about Opinion

December 5, 2011

“Just 1-in-4 consumers expect their financial position to improve in the coming year.” That’s the way SymphonyIRI Group saw it in its recently released report “The Downturn Shopper: Buckled in for a wild and crazy ride.”

“Just 1-in-4 consumers expect their financial position to improve in the coming year.” That’s the way SymphonyIRI Group saw it in its recently released report “The Downturn Shopper: Buckled in for a wild and crazy ride.” Among the highlights — or lowlights — of how consumers are responding to the pressure:


  • 49% visit the hair salon/spa less often;


  • 40% are trying fewer new products;


November 4, 2011

I know this older guy at my gym — I call him “The Professor,” mostly because he used to teach journalism, but also because it’s more fun to say and easier to remember than his actual name.

I know this older guy at my gym — I call him “The Professor,” mostly because he used to teach journalism, but also because it’s more fun to say and easier to remember than his actual name. He’s 85 now, and he says if he doesn’t get to the club to swim laps and sit in the steam room at least three times a week, he feels like he’s doing something wrong. He says he feels the same way about flu shots and all vaccinations for that matter.


October 19, 2011

I’m not going to lie about it. The first thing I thought as I checked into the U.S. Capitol on official business for the story that appears at the bottom of this page was: “Wow, this is pretty cool.”


I’m not going to lie about it. The first thing I thought as I checked into the U.S. Capitol on official business to moderate a special Congressional briefing hosted by the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists was: “Wow, this is pretty cool.”


Truth is, the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists believed that Drug Store News could make some pretty complex ideas understandable for a group of 20-somethings whose job it is to tell 435 members of Congress what to think and how to vote.


September 12, 2011

Somewhere along the road back from Boston, DSN publisher Wayne Bennett and I looked at each other and realized that the previous 24 hours or so had been some of the most productive time we had enjoyed at a trade show in quite a while.


Somewhere along the road back from Boston, DSN publisher Wayne Bennett and I looked at each other and realized that the previous 24 hours or so had been some of the most productive time we had enjoyed at a trade show in quite a while. To be honest, that’s not exactly what we had expected when we headed to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ Pharmacy and Technology Conference a day earlier. Hurricane Irene — which had already dampened our travel plans — also had dampened our expectations.


August 19, 2011

“[Charlie] never wanted the spotlight,” long-time friend and colleague Al Kraus noted in an online post, recalling a conversation with Charlie Bowlus over a drink one night in 1994, at the end of the very first ECRM show.

“[Charlie] never wanted the spotlight,” long-time friend and colleague Al Kraus noted in an online post, recalling a conversation with Charlie Bowlus over a drink one night in 1994, at the end of the very first ECRM show. “His first show had maybe 80 people. ... I asked him if he made any money on the show. He said, ‘I don’t know, but a lot of people did business, and it was a hell of a party.’”

July 25, 2011


One thing that was pretty clear in the research we conducted for the 2011 Retail Clinician Reader Survey is that an increasing number of retail-based health practitioners want the clinics they work for to expand the scope of services beyond acute care.


One thing that was pretty clear in the research we conducted for the 2011 Retail Clinician Reader Survey is that an increasing number of retail-based health practitioners want the clinics they work for to expand the scope of services beyond acute care. Many readers said the one thing that would make them even more satisfied about the work they do is “moving beyond sick care,” as one reader noted, to more preventive/wellness-oriented services, including chronic disease management programs for diabetes, hypertension and more.

June 20, 2011

It’s like if KITT, the talking car on the 80s TV hit “Knight Rider,” consulted Hasselhoff about his excessive drinking while the two used advanced automotive and information-based technology to fight crime — and improve health outcomes.

It’s like if KITT, the talking car on the 80s TV hit “Knight Rider,” consulted Hasselhoff about his excessive drinking while the two used advanced automotive and information-based technology to fight crime — and improve health outcomes.

May 23, 2011

Neither one of the co-
recipients of this year’s Fantle Award would want you to call it the end of an era. 


Neither one of the co-
recipients of this year’s Fantle Award would want you to call it the end of an era. 


April 25, 2011

In response to the news last month that Rite Aid named Tony Montini EVP merchandising, DSN shared this exchange with an online reader.


In response to the news last month that Rite Aid named Tony Montini EVP merchandising, DSN shared this exchange with an online reader:


Dear DSN;


I am a Rite Aid pharmacist in the small desert town of Needles, Calif. Needles is a poor town with a lot of our business being Medi-Cal — state Medicaid. ... This is the rub: There are no Medi-Cal providers in the city! Most people have to go to the emergency room, or those with Medicare D plans [travel] 20 miles across the Colorado River to Arizona. ...


March 24, 2011

Sugar and chalk. That’s what Pfizer researchers found in a pill that was supposed to be Cytotec, but was, in fact, a crude knockoff seized from a counterfeit drug lab in Peru.

Sugar and chalk. That’s what Pfizer researchers found in a pill that was supposed to be Cytotec, but was, in fact, a crude knockoff seized from a counterfeit drug lab in Peru.

March 4, 2011

A funny thing happened on the way to the cash register. A coveted diabetic shopper intent on saving money saw promotions that resonated with value. She was hooked.

On this trip, promotions influenced her to expand her basket from just insulin to related care items, foot cream and a sugar-free treat. It was as if the retailer and suppliers completely understood her daily regimen, lifestyle, shopping behaviors, willingness to spend and purchase triggers. Indeed, they did.

How? They mastered the process of promotion optimization.

March 4, 2011

It’s about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. I usually wait a couple more days to write my column, but I don’t need to think any more about what to write.

My first insights into retailing came to me by way of my great aunt Agatha Mastromatteo-Corsello-Langella at the boutique she owned just off the corner of 72nd Street and Broadway, here in New York City. As I write this now, it has been less than three hours since she passed away in the company of her two sons Michael and Glen.

February 18, 2011

“Smah-ten up, Ee-dah.” Loosely translated from deep “Mainer-ese,” that means, “smarten up, Eder.”


It’s a voice from my childhood, an old coach and counselor from summer camp, Tobias Woodworth. I called him Toby. He called me “Ee-dah.”


Stuck with me and all my other quasi-incorrigible New York City friends, Toby found himself saying, “smah-ten up!” an awful lot. It could mean anything from “you’ve got two strikes — protect the plate” to “put down that rock.”


February 1, 2011



It appears that even the “King of All Media” Howard Stern gets his news from Drug Store News. Traffic on the site spiked in late December when a DrugStoreNews.com story made it into Stern sidekick Robin Quivers’ daily news broadcast during the Thursday, Dec. 16 show. The Stern Web page also linked to the story under the “It’s Time for Robin’s News” section in the rundown for the satellite radio program’s show (“Use lanolin on your cracked nipples” at HowardStern.com/Rundown.hs).


January 5, 2011



Last month, the American Journal of Managed Care published a review of more than 40 years worth of studies from various medical journals that demonstrated that the best way to improve adherence is to get patients to talk to the store pharmacist; the second-best way is to get them to talk to a nurse before they leave the hospital.


December 7, 2010

We’re making big changes around here in 2011 — and we’re doing it because you told us to.


Whenever we ask one of our readers what they want from Drug Store News, inevitably, the answer always is: “Tell me something I don’t already know about.”


That’s the problem with most trade magazines today — by the time you get the issue, it’s all old news; often more than a month old by the time it lands on your desk. 


November 14, 2010

I was born the day after Thanksgiving. My mom tells me I wanted out the...

I was born the day after Thanksgiving. My mom tells me I wanted out the second I smelled the food. This has always been a special time of year for me—it’s in my blood.

I have a lot to be thankful for these days. One-in-10 Americans are out of work, and many have been for more than a year. As I write this, people in Haiti’s tent cities are reluctant to take shelter from Hurricane Tomas for fear they might again lose everything; whatever they had left was in those tents.

October 24, 2010

As this issue went to press, it sure had been a busy week here at Drug Store News. And that means it was a busy week for the industry, too.

As this issue went to press, it sure had been a busy week here at Drug Store News. And that means it was a busy week for the industry, too.

October 10, 2010

Stuffing the last of my sweaty clothes into my bag, the peace and tranquility of...

Stuffing the last of my sweaty clothes into my bag, the peace and tranquility of my “killer” 90-minute chest/ abs workout was instantly shattered by the sound of the blowhard holding court in the far corner of the locker room. A real “mook,” as we would call him in my family.

September 26, 2010

As I write this column, it’s the final Super Tuesday primaries in eight states, including...

As I write this column, it’s the final Super Tuesday primaries in eight states, including here in New York, before the big mid-term elections in November. And if the Sunday morning news shows are right, the Democrats are in for a spanking. Given the present state of the economy, the stagnant job market and the American electorate’s need to find someone to blame, it’s really kind of inevitable.

September 12, 2010

A certain literary hero of mine might have called it “Fear and Loathing in San...

A certain literary hero of mine might have called it “Fear and Loathing in San Diego.” Stranded at the airport bar for the better part of nine hours while JetBlue drove down a new part from Los Angeles International Airport for our plane’s public address system—without which Flight 188 to New York’s John F.

August 22, 2010

Over-the-counter and health-and-beauty care marketers have been struggling to find ways to harness the communication...

Over-the-counter and health-and-beauty care marketers have been struggling to find ways to harness the communication power of pharmacy to help them build their brand equity. The path to achieve this goal has been for consumer packaged goods companies to develop pharmacy programs designed to educate and capture the attention of pharmacists so that pharmacists may communicate and educate their patients about their products at the point of decision-making.

July 18, 2010

“I have read dribs and drabs of this in different publications over the last couple...

“I have read dribs and drabs of this in different publications over the last couple of years, but this (“7 Deadly Sins of SKU Rationalization,” Drug Store News, June 7, 2010) really pulled it all together.… Hopefully some of the retailers will wake up and read this and understand what they’re doing in terms of customer loyalty, traffic, profitability and so on.”

July 18, 2010

Upon reading your June 7 cover story, “7 Deadly Sins of SKU Rationalization,” we at...

Dear Editor,

Upon reading your June 7 cover story, “7 Deadly Sins of SKU Rationalization,” we at The Swanson Group/Mack Elevation Forum have identified 10 ways that a small- or mid-sized vendor can avoid being SKU-rationalized. Respectfully, we have offered them for fellow Drug Store News readers.

June 6, 2010

Mom + Baby has been a very successful equation for drug retailers in the past....

Mom + Baby has been a very successful equation for drug retailers in the past. After all, babies need lots of “stuff,” and moms historically have been responsible for buying the stuff babies need. The success of the Mom + Baby equation, however, is weakening because it fails to include an increasingly important but often ignored element: Dad. Here’s my forecast for the future: Those retailers who fail to add Dad to the traditional Mom + Baby equation will see their market share decline.