Are drugstores taking over the world?

A friend named Stacey, who I grew up with, recently snail-mailed me the map you see above. She documented 8.76 miles of Rte 130 in New Jersey, from our hometown of Cinnaminson to Burlington. She also included photos of each of these drugstores on a disc in case I wanted to publish them as proof... as if you all don't know what the fine façade of a CVS looks like.

Starting in Cinnaminson and traveling north, we first come to a Shoprite supermarket, with a drugstore inside, followed by a Rite Aid pretty much directly across the street. A few blocks away, in Riverton, there's a CVS and then an Acme, with a drugstore inside. Less than a mile away from the former Rite Aid, we come to another Rite Aid and less than a mile from that Rite Aid, we hit, surprise-surprise, another Rite Aid. Between the two, there's a CVS.

Next we come to a Shoprite with a drugstore and then a Walgreens. There's a whopping 2.1 miles here on this stretch with absolutely NO drugstores... yet. (Now's your chance if you've been thinking about a franchise opportunity!) And then we get a nice round of them bunched up, as if to make up for the lull -- bam, bam, bam, bam -- like machine-gun fire. Acme (with drugstore), Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Rite Aid!

On the map, she writes "And don't even get me started on the Auto Zones, Pep Boys and Advanced Auto Parts..."

Now, joking aside. What's going on folks? Are drugstores the new gas stations? Theories welcome!