Content about Rite Aid

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Members of Rite Aid's loyalty card program will have special reward points added to their cards automatically starting next month, the retail pharmacy chain said Thursday.

Beginning Sept. 2, Wellness+ members will have +UPs loaded to their cards automatically. +UPs are special rewards earned when certain items or groups of items are purchased and can be used like cash toward future purchases. Rite Aid COO Ken Martindale said the national rollout of the Load2Card feature for +UPs would follow a seven-month pilot in four cities.

NEW YORK — Rite Aid has joined a prescription discount card program for Hispanics, the group offering the card said Tuesday.

Effective immediately, Rite Aid stores will accept the UnivisionFarmacia card, distributed by a partnership between media company Univision Enterprises, EnvisionRxOptions and HolaDoctor. The UnivisionFarmacia network includes more than 32,000 pharmacies around the country. Members receive discounts of up to 85% on generic drugs, with an average savings of 40% across brand and generic drugs, the group said.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid reported a 0.5% increase in same-store sales for July, including a 1.2% increase in front-end comps and a 0.2% increase in pharmacy comps. Prescription count at comparable stores increased 4.5%.

Total drug store sales for the month decreased 0.1% to nearly $1.9 billion, compared with July 2011.

As part of Rite Aid’s new Wellness store formats, Rite Aid has positioned its Wellness Ambassador in front of the OTC aisles armed with an iPad that has access to vetted health information. “Our Wellness Ambassadors play an important role in the customer experience,” noted Robert Thompson, Rite Aid EVP pharmacy. “They’re there to help patients talk to the pharmacist [for] specific answers to their health questions,” he said. “With us, it’s personal,” Thompson added, referencing Rite Aid’s long-standing maxim.

Incorporated into the new store formats currently being rolled out by both Walgreens and Rite Aid is a new store associate position with the primary function of proactively engaging customers in the OTC aisle. Walgreens calls them Health Guides; Rite Aid calls them Wellness Ambassadors.

Everybody loves a comeback story, and it looks as though the pharmacy retail industry has one of its own in the making as Rite Aid’s latest earnings report showed another strong quarter for the Camp Hill, Pa.-based chain, which has been steadily growing its sales and narrowing its losses for several quarters already.


One of the most visible representations of Rite Aid’s efforts to make a comeback is its Wellness store format. The company first unveiled the format in several test markets in the Northeast last year, gradually expanding it to other states. Today, more than 420 stores have been converted, and the chain hopes to eventually make the format the norm. The company plans to have 780 stores converted by the end of the year.


CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid is gearing up for the back-to-school season as it again offers a dedicated value website that demonstrates the different ways customers can save at its stores.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Prepare to roll up your sleeves, because the battle for the ESI patient has only just begun. While Wall Street is busy calculating the earnings-per-share impact this will have on all relevant parties (Walgreens' stock is still trading up some $3, an approximate 10% increase, since the announcement), the business of pharmacy retailing will return to block and tackle mode. Filling prescriptions across the back-bench may have become a commodity, but that pharmacy patient still holds tremendous value. And beginning Sept.

Social media is an important component of ongoing brand marketing, as well as any advertising campaign for a drug store retailer or brand. Integrated communications have the most impact because earned, owned and paid media reinforce and amplify the message. All channels feed off each other; the more frequently a potential customer sees or hears about a brand or retailer, particularly in more than one context or venue, the more likely she is to remember and purchase.

PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. — Arctic Ease has become available in Rite Aid stores, the manufacturer said.

Arctic Ease announced the available of its cold-compression cryotherapy wrap at Rite Aid's more than 4,600 stores.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — This year’s National Association of Chain Drug Stores Marketplace Conference proved to be a productive four-day event as retailers and suppliers representing more than $500 billion in annual buying power convened in Denver to network, explore business opportunities and participate in educational programs.