Drug Store News articles from January 2003

Drug Store News archives from January 2003

Snyder's Drug Stores/Drug Emporium. (Newsbites).(store to open in downtown Minneapolis)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... MINNEAPOLIS -- Snyder's Drug Stores/Drug Emporium plans to open this spring a 12,000-square-foot store as an anchor tenant in a shopping complex in downtown Minneapolis. The store will include a full-service pharmacy and one-hour photo...

The General Merchandise Distributors Council has announced a string of executive moves. (Newsbites).(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The General Merchandise Distributors Council has announced a string of executive moves. In addition to his role as vice president of information technology, Michael Winterbottom has been named chief technology...

Winn-Dixie Stores has elected Edward Mehrer to the board of directors. (Newsbites).(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Winn-Dixie Stores has elected Edward Mehrer to the board of directors. Mehrer will serve on the audit and compensation committees of the board. He currently serves as the chief executive officer and president of CyDex, a...

Weis Markets recently celebrated the opening of its new replacement. (Newsbites).(superstore in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... SUNBURY, Pa. -- Weis Markets recently celebrated the opening of its new replacement superstore in Clarks Summit, Pa. The unit features a full-service pharmacy with a consultation area and three self-scan checkout lanes.

Canada's Jean Coutu Group has initiated its annual Quit to Win Challenge. (Newsbites).(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... LONGUEUIL, Quebec -- Canada's Jean Coutu Group has initiated its annual Quit to Win Challenge, inviting smokers to quit March 1 through April 11. The Jean Coutu Group will hand out some 30,000 exclusive support kits that contain an...

CVS to test RFID technology in two pharmacies.(radio frequency identification device)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- In what will be the first pharmacy level implementation of a new inventory asset management tool that lets businesses track products in real time as they move through the supply chain, CVS will soon begin beta testing...

Kmart names Day as new CEO; Adamson remains chairman.(Julian Day, James Adamson)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... TROY, Mich. -- Kmart announced Sunday that president Julian Day has been named to the additional post of chief executive officer, marking Kmart's third chief executive officer since its Chapter 11 filing in January 2002. Day succeeds...

Revlon's Aronson resigns; Coca-Cola's Murphy to assume post.(Larry Aronson, Paul Murphy)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... NEW YORK -- Revlon president and chief executive officer Jack Stahl has recruited another of his former Coca-Cola associates to fill out the turnaround company's management team. On Thursday, Revlon named Paul Murphy executive vice...

ShopKo cuts three exec. posts as part of management shuffle.(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... GREEN BAY, Wis. -- ShopKo Stores has shuffled its merchandising, marketing and replenishment areas, resulting in the elimination of three senior executive positions. Kevin Easton, former senior vice president and general merchandise...

ChainDrugStore.net, NDCHealth form strategic marketing alliance.(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- ChainDrugStore.net and CommunityDrugStore.net members now can access industry standard information tools and services easily thanks to a strategic marketing alliance between ChainDrugStore.net and NDCHealth Corp., a...

Familymeds acquires catalog, online store from Aetna.(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... FARMINGTON, Conn. -- Familymeds has purchased the customer list, inventory and creative assets of the InteliHealth Catalog and online store from Aetna. Aetna retains ownership of the InteliHealth health information Web site. Terms of the...

Pharmacy retailers react to OFT's pharmacy report.(Office of Fair Trading)(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... LONDON -- In the U.K., competition in the pharmacy business could become fierce if recommendations made Friday by the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading take hold. In a report released Friday, the OFT recommended that regulations currently...

Drug chains likely to benefit from Kmart's store closings.(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... NEW YORK -- Kmart's plan to shutter more than 300 stores in 14 states likely will benefit many competing retailers, especially neighboring drug chains. According to Kmart spokeswoman Laura Mahle, Kmart currently operates 1,400...

Shares of Energizer fell 4.3 percent to close at $23.90. (Financials).(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... ST. LOUIS -- Shares of Energizer fell 4.3 percent to close at $23.90 yesterday after the company announced it would buy Pfizer's Schick-Wilkinson Sword business for $930 million. Schick-Wilkinson Sword is the second-largest manufacturer and...

Shares of Duane Reade slipped 7 percent to close at $15.99. (Financials).(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... NEW YORK -- Shares of Duane Reade slipped 7 percent to close at $15.99 yesterday after the drug chain trimmed its fourth quarter earnings outlook to between 38 cents and 41 cents, which includes a 5-cent gain related to the retirement of...

Johnson & Johnson yesterday posted record sales of $9.4 million for the fourth quarter. (Financials).(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... NEWBRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Johnson & Johnson yesterday posted record sales of $9.4 million for the fourth quarter, up 14 percent from the year-ago period. Net earnings for the quarter were $1.4 billion, or 48 cents per share, increases of 30...

Prozac and breast cancer drug Tamoxifen on the decline, Barr Laboratories reported yesterday. (Financials).(Brief Article)
January 22, 2003... POMONA, N.Y. -- With sales of its generic Prozac and breast cancer drug Tamoxifen on the decline, Barr Laboratories reported yesterday that second quarter earnings rose slightly to $42.7 million, or 94 cents per share, versus last year's...

Food and drug retailer Albertson's. (Newsbites).(C.J. Gabriel named executive vice president of supply chain)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... BOISE, Idaho -- Food and drug retailer Albertson's has named C.J. Gabriel executive vice president of supply chain. He succeeds Tom Brother, who plans to retire. Gabriel joins Albertson's from Newgistics, where he served as president, chief...

Kerr Drug recently announced a string of executive moves. (Newsbites).(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... DURHAM, N.C. -- Kerr Drug recently announced a string of executive moves, including the promotion of Emil "Buck" Zawilla, former vice president of operations, to senior vice president of operations.

Winn-Dixie customers can now refill prescriptions online. (Newsbites).(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Winn-Dixie customers can now refill prescriptions online. The program can be accessed by visiting www.winn-dixie.com and selecting the "Pharmacy" button on the site. In other news, Winn-Dixie Stores has named...

The Boots Co., a British health and beauty products retailer. (Newsbites).(Barry Clare, board director, will leave at end-1/03 and Anne Francke will succeed)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... LONDON -- The Boots Co., a British health and beauty products retailer, recently announced that Barry Clare, board director with responsibility for strategic marketing and development, is leaving the company at the end of the month....

Kmart to close 326 stores, slash thousands of jobs.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... TROY, Mich. -- Kmart Corp. yesterday unveiled a second round of store closures as it works to emerge from Chapter 11 by April 30, 2003. Kmart stated it will close 326 of its roughly 1,830 stores, as well as one of its 18 distribution...

Eckerd steps up store-opening program to boost front-end.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- Eckerd unveiled a new prototype, outlined a four-year, 1,000-store expansion plan and disclosed it would enter the Denver market by 2004 at a meeting for financial analysts held yesterday. "We are very excited about...

Walgreens promises better times ahead at annual meeting.(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... CHICAGO -- Shrugging off a chilly economic climate, Walgreen Co.'s new leadership team last week promised shareholders better times ahead and a continuation of the fast-track growth plan that has kept the chain at the top of the industry. ...

CVS agrees to pay $1 million to settle partial-fill rx suit.(settles suit alleging it charged patients full price for prescriptions partially filled)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... WOONSOCKET, R.l.--CVS has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle allegations that it charged pharmacy patients full price for partially filled prescriptions. The alleged practices took place prior to 1998, at which time the pharmacy chain...

NRF Annual Conference attracts 12,000+ industry execs.(National Retail Federal Annual Convention and Expo)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... NEW YORK -- This year is expected to be "a year of solid advance," industry executives were told this week at the 92nd National Retail Federal Annual Convention & Expo. The event, held at New York's Jacob Javits Convention Center,...

Rite Aid, ProxyMed go live with e-prescribing network.(Rite Aid using e-prescribing network from ProxyMed)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... CAMP HILL, Pa. -- Rite Aid, which announced last August that it would be using ProxyMed's e-prescribing network to enable its pharmacies to send and receive electronic prescription data, has gone live with the service in San Francisco and...

GlaxoSmithKline takes step to block cross-border rx sales.(threatens to stop supplying drugs to Canadian Internet mail-order pharmacies)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... NEW YORK -- The debate over cross-border drug sales continues as GlaxoSmithKline threatens to stop supplying drugs to Canadian online mail-order pharmacies unless they stop selling them to U.S. customers, according to published reports. ...

December sales performances.
January 15, 2003... December sales performances Total Same-store monthly % increase Same-store pharmacy $ sales over sales sales Company in...

Shares of Fleming Cos. (Financials).(Fleming Companies Inc. shares slipping)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... DALLAS -- Shares of Fleming Cos. slipped 22.7 percent to close at $5.04 yesterday after it cut its fourth quarter outlook to between 10 cents and 12 cents a share, down from a Thomson First Call average estimate of 31 cents. The company,...

Wal-Mart and supermarket chain J Sainsbury PLC are both considering bids for U.K.'s Safeway. (Financials).(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... LONDON -- Wal-Mart and supermarket chain J Sainsbury PLC are both considering bids for U.K.'s Safeway, which has already agreed to a deal with William Morrison Supermarkets currently worth 2.6 billion pounds, or about $4.2 billion.

Belgian international food retailer Delhaize is closing 41 Food Lion stores. (Financials).(in the U.S.)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... RUSSELS -- Belgian international food retailer Delhaize is closing 41 Food Lion stores in the United States and one Kash n' Karry. None of these locations have pharmacies, the company stated.

Citing a faster-than-expected drop in U.S. prescriptions for Claritin. (Financials).(Schering-Plough Corp. cuts 2002 earnings outlook)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... KENILWORTH, N.J. -- Citing a faster-than-expected drop in U.S. prescriptions for Claritin, Schering-Plough last Thursday cut its full-year 2002 earnings outlook to $1.40 to $1.42 per share. Previously, the company expected earnings to be flat...

Shares of Gillette slipped 1.2 percent to close at $30.93. (Financials).(after announcement of price cuts on batteries)(Brief Article)
January 15, 2003... BETHEL, Conn. -- Shares of Gillette slipped 1.2 percent to close at $30.93 Monday after it announced that it would cut prices on its top-selling AA- and AAA-sized batteries by about 13 percent. The company also plans to cut promotional spend...

December front-end sales lack holiday cheer for drug chains.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... NEW YORK -- As with most retailers, the 2002 holiday shopping season was not the Christmas miracle drug chains had hoped for, as was evidenced by December's dreary front-end sales. However, this came as little surprise to analysts. CVS...

Walgreens beats the street with 1Q performance.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Walgreens drove its net profits ahead 24.6 percent to $231.6 million, or 22 cents per share, in the first quarter ended Nov. 30, beating retail analysts' consensus predictions. Per-share net income reached 22 cents...

Massachusetts' rx tax takes hold to dismay of pharmacy chains.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... BOSTON -- Pharmacy retailers in Massachusetts are gearing up to begin assessing their customers a new and controversial tax on prescriptions levied by the state. The new tax, set at $1.30 per prescription, took effect Jan. 1. Most of the...

Sure-Script Systems. (News Bites).(adds 10 new retailers for development of e-prescribing)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Surecript Systems has expanded its list of participating chain pharmacies with the addition of 10 new pharmacy retailers. To date, 35 drug pharmacy chains have agreed to work with SureScripts to develop and implement...

A hold's Giant Food. (New Bites).(Maria Boyd, regional VP for store operations)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... LANDOVER, Md. -- Ahold's Giant Food has appointed Maria Boyd regional vice president for store operations. Boyd joined Giant in 1972 as a part-time cashier. Over the years, Boyd held positions of increasing responsibility, including director...

RxHub, a health care technology company. (New Bites).(David McLean, COO)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... ST. PAUL, Minn. -- RxHub, a health care technology company that has created an electronic information exchange connecting prescribers, pharmacies and PBMs, has named David McLean as chief operating officer. Previously, McLean served as chief...

Snyder's Drug Stores/Drug Emporium. (News Bites).(Dick Beaulieu, Dave Soldat)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... Minnetonka, Minn -- Syder's Drug Stores/Drug Emporium has added two new positions at its wholesale division, Western Wholesale of Austintown, Ohio Dick Beaulieu, a district manager, is now director of Western Wholesale for outside operations....

Nutrition in Focus program. (News Bites).(Albertson's adds another dietician)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... PHOENIX -- As port of its Nutrition in Focus program, Albertson's is offering shoppers a free "dietician on call," Dietician Michelle Gorman will serve the retiler's Southwest division and joins the company's six other corporate dieticians...

Gillette, Wal-Mart, Tesco team up to test RFID tags.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... BOSTON -- In an initiative that could save billions of dollars in supply chain costs and potentially eliminate out-of-stocks at retail, Gillette this month will partner with Wal-Mart and London-based Tesco Supermarkets in a field test of a...

Rite Aid reaches $10.75 million settlement over 401k plan.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... CAMP HILL, Pa. -- Rite Aid Corp reached a $10.75 million settlement agreement over its retirement plan that allowed employees to invest in Rite Aid stock when former managers allegedly were cooking the books. Rite Aid will put $4 million...

Sorkin gets separate trial.(Eric S. Sorkin, Rite Aid)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The trial for Eric S. Sorkin, Rite Aid's executive vice president for pharmacy services, on obstruction and perjury charges will be held separately from the trials of three former Rite Aid executives who are being levied...

Medicine Shoppe's Storch named company president.(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... DUBLIN, Ohio -- Cardinal Health has named Robert Storch president of Medicine Shoppe International. Storch was recruited to Cardinal Health in early 2002 to be a lead member of the Medicine Shoppe executive team as vice president of...

McKesson, Giant Eagle create Automated Refill Center.(McKesson Corp.'s agreements with Giant Eagle and with Wal-Mart Stores)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... SAN FRANCISCO -- McKesson Corp. and Giant Eagle have expanded their relationship beyond pharmaceutical distribution to create an Automated Refill Center. Under the agreement, McKesson will provide assistance in managing prescription...

Ohio's rx drug discount plan delayed until February, at least.(plan is to senior citizen Golden Buckey Card program to drugs)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... COLUMBUS -- The state of Ohio will delay the start of a prescription drug discount program for seniors until at least mid-February, according to published reports. The program, which had been set to go into effect Jan. 1, is on hold...

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (Financials).(reaches pacts to settle antitrust litigation related to Taxol and BuSpar drugs)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... NEW YORK -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. announced yesterday that it has reached agreements that would settle substantially all antitrust litigation surrounding its anti-anxiety drug BuSpar and the anti-cancer drug Taxol. The BuSpar settlements...

International food retailer. (Financials).(Ahold sees US retail sales up 10% )(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... AMSTERDAM -- International food retailer Ahold reported yesterday that its U.S. retail sales rose 10 percent to $6.2 billion. Same-store sales rose 1 percent. Ahold president and chief executive officer Cees van der Hoeve reconfirmed that...

Drugstore.com. (Financials).(fourth quarter sales seen up over 26% to some$55 million)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... BELLEVUE, Wash -- Drugstore.com expects to end the year with more than $60 million in cash and cash equivalents, which president and chief executive officer Kal Raman said should be sufficient to reach break-even EBITDA. Based on preliminary...

RiteAid. (Financials).(will have as much as $300 million available for debt repurchases untilend of fiscal 2004)(Brief Article)
January 8, 2003... CAMP HILL, Pa. -- Rite Aid has amended its senior secured credit facility to allow it to make optional repurchases of its publicly traded debt and its senior secured notes due 2006, according to an SEC filing. Until the end of its 2004 fiscal...