Comments (43)

1. And just wait until they all start selling Mary Jane! Then it’ll really go nuts.

   posted by EV on 9-1-2010 at 8:17 am

2. Yep – down here in Florida, whenever (Walgreens|CVS) builds on a corner, (CVS|Walgreens) will build at the same intersection — often razing any building in their path. It’s not unlike the Home Depot/Lowes wars in many small towns.

   In the end, it’s rather sickening that these absolutely identical stores have to consume so much land — even way out in the rural parts.

   The minute one of these two chains go out of business, you can be sure that Rite Aid will step in and pick up the slack, much like CVS did when Eckards went out of business.

   posted by mainstreetmark on 9-1-2010 at 8:23 am

3. Couldn’t you say the same for Starbucks?

   posted by Peter on 9-1-2010 at 8:25 am

4. I’ve always thought that drug stores are the new convenience stores. Because there really aren’t a whole lot of those any more… at least not as many as there used to be.

   posted by TBV on 9-1-2010 at 8:44 am

5. Meh. Who cares?

   Even yesterday I thought the same thing that there are a lot of drgustores (CVS/Walgreens), but those stores only exist because there is a market for them.

   They sell things other than drugs (candy, soda, pens, notebook paper, etc) which makes them more of a convenience store than a drug store.

   Besides in this economy, who would decry an establishment that creates (I would guess) 10-20 jobs?

   Other businesses that seem to be every where:

   Cleaners
   Nail salons
   Coffee shops (Starbucks)
   Gas Stations
   Subway restaurants

   posted by david on 9-1-2010 at 8:59 am

6. A conspiracy to destroy all remaining Mom and Pop stores in the country. Someone very important is holding a grudge. (sarcasm)

   But seriously. It is sad to see such a dumb dispersment of drug stores. Do we really need that many all clustered together? It’s the same thing where I live. They build a CVS and a month later a Walgreens goes up across the street. They built a new Home Depot, and then a Lowes went up across the street. Before Circuit City went under, Best Buy moved across town to be across the street from them. Now there is a vacant building where the Best Buy used to be and a vacant building where the Circuit City used to be. Stupid.

   posted by Red Bunny on 9-1-2010 at 9:10 am

7. That part of Jersey if rife with the old folks. Gotta get ‘em their prescriptions somehow…

   posted by CgH on 9-1-2010 at 9:12 am

8. The reality is, is that one chain will pay for site surveys and demographic studies, and PR and marketing and a whole of other stuff. Then a second one will step in and build nearby, saving them the money of having done all that research themselves. The same thing happens with restaurants McDonalds may typically pay for the research and then Subway, BK and Pizza Hut all jump in on their coat tails. Thats why we have the proliferation of concentrated areas full of strip malls and various franchises.

   Plus, as others have mentioned, they have become the modern day convenience store – soda, chips, and candy, all right next to nail polish remover and band aids. Its a super walmart on a much smaller scale

   posted by Justin L on 9-1-2010 at 9:14 am

9. I grew up in the very same area, and watched drug store after drug store pop up over the years. I miss the small independent ones, who would really cater to customers. There were 2 in the nearby town of Riverside, Paramount Drug and Riverside Drug, which would deliver your prescription to you if you were too sick to come pick it up.

   posted by Caden on 9-1-2010 at 9:36 am

10. My folks live near Rt 130 as well. They just opened a CVS on CR 571, despite the fact that there is a 24 hr CVS right down the road on 130. (571 intersects 130.) In between those two CVS’s, there’s a Walgreens. Across the street from the new CVS is Rite Aid, which is right down the road from another Right Aid. And I’m not even counting the pharmacies in the supermarkets.

    posted by Jim on 9-1-2010 at 9:48 am

11. I live in East Baltimore city, and the closest thing we have is a Safeway. It’s a good 5 minute drive from my house. I wish we had MORE drug store. And gas stations.

    posted by Caitlin on 9-1-2010 at 10:00 am

12. Drug stores are all over, until your car stalls on an intersection on a 97 degree day and all you want is some water while you’re waiting for the tow truck. :(

    posted by MetalRose on 9-1-2010 at 10:21 am

13. I grew up in a small town, that had four drugstores in it. All on the same street. Within walking distance of each other.

    posted by Kate on 9-1-2010 at 10:27 am

14. Its the same in my town & the one next to it. Between the 2 of us we have something like 3 Walgreens, 2 CVS’s, 2 RiteAids, 2 stop & shops (with pharmacies) a Wal-mart (with a pharmacy) & another grocery store with a pharmacy, but I can’t remember the name of it.
    It’s all a bit much, I think…what we could use is a bookstore (nearest one is a 30 minute drive on a good day) and maybe someplace that sells clothing (that isn’t BigLots or the Salvation Army)

    posted by sammylee on 9-1-2010 at 10:30 am

15. No. Drugstores will not be the new gas stations until Britney Spears is photographed outside them.

    posted by bubba on 9-1-2010 at 10:30 am

16. I don’t now if it has anything to do with site surveys… here in Middletown, CT, we just got a Walgreens (which we already had one in town) which is directly across the street from a 24 hour CVS and there is a Stop and Shop supermarket with a pharmacy in it about a half a block away. they actually knocked down a long long standing Baptist church to build the thing and PROMISED the congregation a new church.. so far, there has been no progress on the new church for the congregation. PLUS.. the Walgreens parking lot is always empty. I went in there a couple of days ago and the ratio of employees to customers was like 3-1.

    I know that Dunkin Donuts around here is paying for new tiny strip malls to be built.. in our town alone, there are four new ones, all with a Dunkin’ donuts being the first store in and our town is SMALL… no wonder everyone around here is fat.

    posted by Mindy on 9-1-2010 at 10:30 am

17. You guys don’t understand. This is a deep conspiracy, and if you follow the money, you will see that all drugstore chains are owned by the same company, NHMI, or National Human Management, Inc.

    The older drug stores, which sold primarily drugs and other conveniences, such as Eckerd and Revco, were slowly taken over and phased out over many years. They were ostensibly “bought out” by chains like CVS or Walgreens, actually fronts for NHMI. Their long-term goal is to control every drugstore in the nation, and to have one on literally every corner.

    Insane? Not at all. CVS would have you believe their name means “Convenience, Value, Service.” In actuality, the name is an acronym for “CITIZEN VACCINATION STATION,” where US citizens will be forcibly vaccinated — against all known diseases… to ensure our survival. And Walgreens?

    WASHING
    AND
    LABELING
    GRINDING
    RUBEFACTION
    ENCASEMENT
    EXTRACTION
    NETWORK
    STATION

    The longterm goal is for all US citizens to be “processed” via these “stations.” This is far deeper than a government plot; the strings are pulled by a species of otherwordly creatures who live on human flesh, and who hope to sell human blood to a race of alien vampires (hence the “rubefaction” – make the blood look redder than it is).

    Our only hope is that the sweet embrace of death will hold us in its icy grip before our evil alien overlords get their wish!

    posted by Aaron on 9-1-2010 at 10:38 am

18. I live in central Maryland and there’s hardly a drugstore to be found around here. All of our grocery stores have a pharmacy section.

    posted by Faith on 9-1-2010 at 10:47 am

19. Big factor in spread of these stores –the price markup on most of the items they sell are over 100%
    true for:
    – prescription and OTC drugs (even their own store brands)
    – auto parts

    my small town (less than 15,000 people) has too many of these stores), but losing its other mom and pop hardware, grocery, books and clothing to Walmart, Home Depot and Borders..

    What has very little profit for the small retail seller?
    – gas stations (and the costs of enviro cleanup!) we actually lose more of them!

    posted by John on 9-1-2010 at 11:04 am

20. I would argue that the drug stores are more than convenience stores but almost mini-grocery stores now less the fresh meat, fresh vegetables, and general vast selection. Basically these are run with the higher profit and easier to transport items at their core and charge an extra premium on any food products. Plus the non-pharmacy part of the store runs on fewer low value employees than grocery stores need.

    As grocery stores expanded their square footage, the chains closed their smaller stores – the average drug store of today is 75% to 100% of the average size grocery store of 30-40 years ago.

    As we are referencing NJ, Acme markets closed a store in my mother’s NJ shore town and then sold the property. Now a new drug store was inserted into 75% of the original refurbished building with the other 25% of the building for rent for another tenant.

    posted by econobiker on 9-1-2010 at 11:05 am

21. here in toledo there are quite a few intersections where 2 or 3 out of the 4 corners are occupied by a CVS/WALGREENS/RITE-AID. we even have an intersection that has TWO BPs!

    posted by fulloutshred on 9-1-2010 at 11:20 am

22. My small town (also less than 15K) has 6 drug stores. On the other hand, we have easily twice that in the number of banks, 6 of which are less than 1/2 mile from my home. Auto part places also seem to rule my town.

    posted by Tricia on 9-1-2010 at 11:29 am

23. I’m not sure how this factors in but as someone with multiple, long term prescription I’m pretty much stuck with one location of one drugstore for all my pharmocological needs.

    posted by Becky on 9-1-2010 at 12:00 pm

24. What’s the problem? You have to be able to buy your Soylent Green somewhere.

    posted by PartiallyDeflected on 9-1-2010 at 12:21 pm

25. I like the 2 drug stores by the Univerity of Pittsburgh where the was a Rite-Aid and a Eckerd seperated by only Dave and Andy’s Ice Cream store. Since Rite-Aid took over Eckerd both stores are now Rite-Aids.

    posted by Josh on 9-1-2010 at 1:22 pm

26. I always thought it was weird when I used to travel in the US and there WEREN’T drugstores everywhere. In Western Canada, we love, LOVE our London Drugs. We go there for everything from prescriptions to waffle irons to computer games. It’s always crowded.

    Drugstores are the new Woolworth’s!!!

    posted by Mare on 9-1-2010 at 1:44 pm

27. I also think Aaron may be a little late in renewing his prescription…

    Join us! Prozac! Celexa! Luvox! Amitryptiline! Lithium! Zoloft! Xanax!
    Rah! Rah! Rah!

    posted by Mare on 9-1-2010 at 1:46 pm

28. Get your tinfoil hats out – I’ve been talking about the rite-aid/walgreens takeover for over 10 years (half-jokingly but only half).
    I moved to a new town about a year ago and just finally figured out that there are _two_ rite-aids about a block apart on the other side of town. They’re both on a corner and have the same layout for parking lot and landscaping. I thought they were the same one. I tried to use it as a landmark for when to turn (they’re both on cross streets that start with a B) but kept being a block off from where I meant to be and I thought I was losing my mind.

    Just looked it up out of curiosity, in a town of about 40,000 there’s 12 pharmacies (pharmacii?) withing ≈3 miles of each other. (more on the edges of town, too). Why? I think they’re going to take over someday.

    posted by Lisa on 9-1-2010 at 1:53 pm

29. With the maturing baby-boomer population rapidly requiring more and more to keep them alive, the big chains decided a while ago to try to put a retail location within walking distance of the majority of residential areas. Those folks aren’t going to be driving forever and they’ll need the services of a good drug store even more in their later years.

    posted by Dave S. on 9-1-2010 at 2:21 pm

30. Bahaha I looked at the picture and thought, “This is my ride home from work” then I read that it was Rt 130 in NJ.. and it is in fact my ride home from work hahaha

    posted by Melissa on 9-1-2010 at 3:14 pm

31. It all goes back to Sunday blue laws. Pharmacies were one of the few places allowed to be open on Sundays, so in addition to drugs, they stocked some food/drink items and household goods. Carrying on that tradition, they have become very profitable convenience stores with pharmacies attached.

    posted by E on 9-1-2010 at 3:20 pm

32. I think I should steer my sons to be pharmacists. Evidently, there’s job opportunity.

    posted by hflipper on 9-1-2010 at 3:29 pm

33. Apparently there are not enough. My husband is a pharmacist and fills about 250 scripts a day at his pharmacy, even though there’s a Walgreens across the street and a CVS a block away.

    posted by Alicia on 9-1-2010 at 4:05 pm

34. Its the same way in Memphis too, but moreso with Walgreens. Between my grandmother’s house and the nearest mall there are 4 Walgreens alone, and it’s less than 10 miles. Next time I’m up there I’ll be sure to check for CVS and RiteAids around them

    posted by NukeGuy on 9-1-2010 at 5:00 pm

35. An aging population.

    Glad I could think for you. Move along.

    posted by Pile of Pooh on 9-1-2010 at 6:25 pm

36. An aging population=more prescriptions and OTC sales. Lots of $$ in all those drugs.

    posted by mary ann on 9-1-2010 at 6:35 pm

37. You ought to live where I live. For such a tiny town (not even a city), there’s a ridiculous amount of Dunkin’ Donuts. That, and nail salons. Dunkin’ Donuts inside the Wal-Mart, across the street in a standalone, built into the gas-station, inside the grocery store…

    posted by Taz on 9-1-2010 at 10:38 pm

38. When I saw the title of this article, I had to laugh…..on the way home tonight, my husband and I passed a new Walgreens, still under construction. My comment: “Oh, thank goodness they’re building a Walgreens there – That CVS is almost 50 yards away!” But something even stranger….in Pensacola, FL, there’s a corner with a Walmart and a Target, and then in the Tom Thumb Food Store and Gas Station, there’s a Kroger pharmacy. There’s not a Kroger supermarket around for miles, but the pharmacy has set up shop in the Tom Thumb. So weird. I guess we can chalk that up to the snowbirds in Florida, too.

    posted by Lynley on 9-1-2010 at 11:15 pm

39. ahhhh! i live right off of 130! it never occurred to me that this was out of the ordinary?

    posted by Allyson on 9-2-2010 at 12:03 am

40. They’re.. useful?

    posted by Vandell on 9-2-2010 at 3:25 am

41. There must be a map of drug stores in Manhattan. If you start on 34th and 5th there is a Duane Reade, followed by a Walgreens on 33rd and 5th and a CVS on 32nd and 5th. . . you care barely go a block without stumbling on one.

    posted by nancy pants on 9-2-2010 at 9:26 am

42. On my road, about five years ago, there was a Happy Harry’s (Now Walgreen’s since the buyout) in a prime loaction that generated a plethora of business. So, the only logical thing to do was to COMPETE AGAINST ITSELF! They built ANOTHER Happy Harry’s right across the intersection! Both were operating at the same time for almost a year before they decided to BUILD ANOTHER about a half mile down the road! At about this time, Walgreen’s finished with the buyout and liquidated two of the stores. Now, CVS is muscling into town and has already constructed one on the highway and another across from the aforementioned Walgreen’s. Rite Aid stores seem to be bouncing around town looking for a place to settle and there is still a solitary Eckard’s clinging for dear life.

    posted by Steven on 9-2-2010 at 10:06 am

43. In Memphis we actually had a big debate at the city council last week over a new CVS. They were wanting to tear down a historic building to put another pharmacy… across the street from a Walgreens. Even though there are 9 pharmacies in a 2-mile radius and there were other parties that wanted to buy the building and preserve it the city decided to allow CVS. Not cool.

    posted by Rachel on 9-2-2010 at 4:01 pm

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