Content about Rite Aid

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Healthcare technology company Supplylogix and consulting firm Kindler & Crimmins Associates will collaborate to deliver inventory management and reverse logistics services to pharmacy chains around the country, the two companies said.

KCA is led by former Rite Aid VP inventory management Stephen Kindler and Ed Crimmins, former Rite Aid senior director of pharmacy inventory and returns, and helps retailers, manufacturers and distributors increase inventory productivity and reduce return volume.

PITTSBURGH — GNC on Monday named Nora Tobin — competitive beach volleyball athlete, National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified professional trainer, yoga instructor and upcoming author — to the specialty retailer's GNC LiveWell team as its newest brand ambassador.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is gearing up for this year’s Pharmacy & Technology Conference in Boston in late August, an event that will bring together more than 130 retail companies representing more than 80,000 retail outlets.

This year’s conference will take place Aug. 27 to 30 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid’s same-store sales increased by 1.9% in July, the retail pharmacy chain said Thursday.

During the four-week period ended July 23, comp sales jumped 3.1% on the front end and 1.4% in the pharmacy, including a 151 basis point reduction resulting from introduction of new generic drugs. Prescription counts decreased by 0.4%. Total sales during the four-week period were about $1.92 billion, a 1.6% increase over July 2010.


With its latest string of initiatives designed to bring it out of a slump that lasted more than a decade, Rite Aid is aiming for “wellness” to do for it what the lower-case “i” did for Apple.


First, there was the wellness+ loyalty card program. Then, there was the wellness store format, with its team of Wellness Ambassadors. “This new format is all about empowering our customers in their pursuit of wellness,” president and CEO John Standley said in the company’s first quarter 2012 earnings call on June 23.


CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid is offering specials on back-to-school items for the upcoming shopping season, the retail pharmacy chain said Monday.

The National Retail Federation predicted that the weak economy will drive many shoppers to seek items on sale, and 1-in-5 shoppers will look for items at the local drug store. Weekly specials will be featured in circulars during the season, and Rite Aid stores situated near college campuses will carry extra items for students living in dorm rooms.


The 19th century British writer William Hickson may have written, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again,” but he only had half the story. By all means, try again, but don’t do the same thing over and over and expect different results.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — If the rumors that surfaced last week about Walmart eyeing Rite Aid for a possible buyout turn out to be true, it would be one of the biggest stories of the year: Walmart would acquire the country’s third-largest drug store chain and more than double its U.S. store count.

(THE NEWS: Report: Walmart may be eyeing Rite Aid. For the full story, click here)

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid is launching new flavors of its private-label Thrifty Ice Cream in California stores, the retail pharmacy chain said Wednesday.

The launch comes ahead of National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, which President Ronald Reagan launched in 1984.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Cosmetic Promotions will sponsor Rite Aid’s Glam Camp Back-to-School program for the fourth year in a row, the beauty marketing and promotional company said.

Overdrive.


Increasingly, chains that traditionally have not been major forces in food retailing are making bigger commitments than ever to fresh — including meat, produce and dairy — in an effort not only to help solve the nation’s growing health crisis and expand Americans’ access to nutritious food options, but also to create new reasons for customers to shop their stores.



NEW YORK — The race is on to capture tomorrow’s click-and-pick shopper — that multichannel consumer who, with a click, wields her phone as an omniscient shopping tool and then either picks her product off the shelf or picks where that product will be waiting for her, be it at a nearby store or in her mailbox.