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ALLEGAN. Mich. — Business for OTC store brands is expected to boom in the coming year, Perrigo chairman and CEO Joseph Papa told analysts discussing the private-label manufacturer's first-quarter results during a conference call Wednesday, even as the growth rate across the entire OTC category slows. "What we are seeing though, is the continued acceleration of store brand as being the reason why we're seeing the growth in our OTC category. For us to have a 9.4% growth in our OTC category, we think is a strong indication," Papa said. 

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Omni-channel retailing is so yesterday. Omni-national retailing is the space where Walgreens is looking to play, and this magazine is just one of the first examples of how retailing concepts from the Old Country will be imported from across the Pond and translated for the U.S. market. 

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Watson Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday announced the sale of its Rugby over-the-counter business to the Harvard Drug Group — a distributor and provider of private-label OTCs and generic prescription products under the Major Pharmaceuticals brand — for approximately $117 million.  

"I am confident that Major, with its leadership position as a marketer of OTC products, will be more strategically positioned to maximize the value of the long-known and respected Rugby name," stated Paul Bisaro, president and CEO of Watson.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — In today's give-'em-what-they-want style of merchandising, in a market where savvy, omni-channel consumers can customize the what, when and where of the purchase, private label more and more ascends from being considered the cheapest product offering to being the best value product offering. 

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Shopko announced Wednesday that Mike Bettiga has been named interim CEO to replace Paul Jones, who resigned to pursue another opportunity.

Bettiga is a 35-veteran of the company and most recently served as EVP and COO, a role he has held since April 2009. He began his career with Shopko as a pharmacist in 1977, and has held a number of positions during his tenure, including executive leadership of store, pharmacy and optical operations, retail health merchandising and responsibility for the Shopko Express stores.

“Drugs don’t work in patients who don’t take them.”

Sounds simple enough. But that obvious truism, voiced by former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop, fails to convince tens of millions of patients that they should take their prescription medicines through the full dosage regimen. And in too many cases, patients aren’t even filling the script to begin with.

Warren Buffet once shared: “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.”  Most people believe they operate with integrity and transparency, but the dirty little secret is that your customers may see you as biased or not as valuable as you think. 

"You’ve got to skate to where the puck is going, not to where it’s been.” 


That’s how Bryan Pugh, who is Walgreens’ VP and chief merchandising officer, described how the merchandising department functions at Walgreens. It’s a fast-moving game. It’s got to be fluid. And if you lose focus for even one second, you stand the chance of being railroaded into the boards and becoming less of a force in the game. 


In a way, Walgreens has always been woven into the fabric of New York City culture — its Times Square location served as the backdrop for Life magazine’s iconic V-J Day photo in 1945. And while Walgreens hit snooze on The City That Never Sleeps for decades, nearly exiting the market in the 1970s, between its grand return to One Times Square in 2008 and its subsequent acquisition of New York’s top regional chain Duane Reade in 2010, it’s almost like it never really left at all.


PHOENIX — The Arizona Corporate Excellence Awards has named Avella Specialty Pharmacy as the fastest-growing private company based in the state, Avella said.

Avella, formerly known as The Apothecary Shops, received the award from the Phoenix Business Journal. The ACE Awards recognize private companies based on the growth of their business, innovation, community involvement, dedication to employees and leadership accomplishments. The company changed its name to Avella in July.

SUPPLIER NEWS — Physicians Formula is being acquired by private equity firm Swander Pace Capital for $4.25 per share in cash, or approximately $65 million. Upon close of the merger, Physicians Formula will be privately owned and will continue to be operated by the company’s current management team and employees. The deal is expected to close later this year.


NEW YORK — President Barack Obama's re-election bid got a dose of support from the cofounder of one of the country's largest retailers, according to published reports.

Speaking at the Democratic National Convention, former Costco Wholesale CEO and cofounder Jim Sinegal said Obama "understands what the private sector needs to succeed," The Seattle Times quoted the co-founder of Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco as saying.