One U.S. district judge calls Kentucky’s law prohibiting the sale of wine and liquor in c-stores and grocery stores “unconstitutional.” A U.S. district judge ruled Tuesday that a Kentucky law prohibiting grocery and convenience stores from selling wine and liquor is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II of Louisville, Ky., said the state…
Walgreens Helps Customers Navigate In-Store
Walgreens creates a new app to help customers find what they need on their shopping trips. Walgreens partnered with aisle411, a mobile retail navigation service, to create a virtual map of its store layouts for smartphones. Walgreens is the first national retailer to map all of its stores with a mobile app. The app will…
Pocket-Sized Pain Relief
Introducing new Lil’ Drug Brand Vials: Lil’ Drug Brand now offers four popular pain relief formulas in a convenient, pocket-size vial, ideal for convenience store shoppers. At only $2.99 for 10 pills, vials offer both value and convenience to on-the-go consumers, and easily fit into a pocket or purse. For retailers, Lil’ Drug Brand Vials…
Retail Study Finds Store Brands Thrive In U.S. Market
Store-brands still prove to be highly popular with U.S. consumers when compared with brand-name products. A study released by Accenture finds that two-thirds of U.S. shoppers surveyed admitted that their grocery carts were half full of store-brand products. Some admitted to Accenture that they even increased their purchase of store-brand products in recent years as…
Walgreens March Sales Decrease 4.3%
Walgreens had March sales of $6.02 billion, a decrease of 4.3% from $6.29 billion for the same month in fiscal 2011. Total front-end sales increased 2.5% compared with the same month in 2011, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.2%. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 1% while basket size increased 2.2%. “We continued to…
Walgreens Reaches 100th Solar Power Installation
Drugstore chain on track to have the most solar power installations among retailers nationwide. Walgreens is marking its continued commitment to sustainability with its 100th rooftop solar power system installation in Mason, Ohio. Since its first solar installation in 2007, Walgreens has expanded its plans to include stores and distribution centers in Connecticut, New Jersey,…
Walgreens Launches Pilot Program in Dallas/Fort Worth
Walgreens is launching a pilot program in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to broaden its workforce and disability inclusion initiatives. The program aims to hire people with disabilities for 10% of service clerk openings at stores in the area. On average, Walgreens hires more than 1,600 service clerks a year in this area alone. “Once this…
Walgreens Announces Community Corner Program
Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, is introducing a new Community Corner program designed to highlight the successes of minority-owned businesses. This first-of-its-kind supplier diversity initiative is designed to allow consumers to easily identify and purchase products produced by diverse companies. Walgreens will recognize these vendor partners through print advertisements, in-store announcements, coupon booklets,…
Walgreen’s Fresh Food, Alcohol Sales Up The Competition
Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen Co. is getting into fresh foods and prepared meals to draw “time-starved” customers to its more than 7,000 stores, Business Week reported The drugstore chain has been talking with foodmakers including Unilever NV, Nestle SA and Sara Lee Corp. about creating private-label and branded products, according to Bryan Pugh, vice president of…