Posted on 09/26/2023 4:19:19 AM PDT by CFW
It's no secret that U.S. drugstore landscape has been consolidating at a jarring pace now that the pandemic has passed.
Rite Aid (RAD) - has been reportedly toying with the possibility of filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy and liquidating many of its stores. It currently has some $3.3 billion in debt. The proposed deal would permanently shutter 400 to 500 of the chain's current 2,100 stores and hand them over to creditors or other interested buyers.
With the the pandemic now firmly behind us and brick-and-mortar retail at a crawling recovery pace compared with more robust corners of the market, drugstores have been ripe for change and, perhaps inevitably, consolidation.
Walgreens (WBA) - recently parted ways with its intrepid covid-era chief executive, Rosalind Brewer, who abruptly left on Sept. 1. The drugstore is now seeking someone with "deep health-care experience to lead in today’s dynamic environment," according to Executive Chairman Stefano Pessina.
It's clear that if a U.S. drugstore isn't implementing change, change is being forced on it, and more often than not that spells trouble. And that's before accounting for the sharp spike in shoplifting and other retail crime, which has cut deeply into drugstores' bottom lines and forced some to either shutter or chain up frequently stolen goods.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
After large increases in our property taxes over the past two years, I read that our taxes will increase another 9% next year. We are heading into economic downward spiral that people are refusing to see.
That’s because they will help engineer a Republican win, so the Republican can wear the damage.
Same old, same old.
Innumeracy
Perhaps a lesson in exponents? The Progressives ignore consequences and only play the blame game.
CVS would probably do better if they stopped hiring potatoes to run the prescriptions counter.
The one I use won’t even answer the phone anymore at all. You have to leave a voicemail and you might get a call back 4 hours later. When things work ok, it’s fine. But if you have any issues at all it’s terrible.
I hope so.
You mean the ones all tatted up with piercings all over that you pray you don’t get a staph infection from their handling of your medication due to the number of open sores on their hands?
Those potatoes?
CVS has basically become an outpatient clinic, specializing in instore vaccinations. They allowed the easy COVID money/mRNA vaccines to ruin their brand.
We are small, 7K, and have Krogers or Walgreens. We are not allowed to use either. Tricare Life. Not even for an Emergency room script, unless you can pay full price.
Move one town over there is a Private Pharmacy of 40+ years with great service and Christian values, that does 4 times the business that Krogers, Walgreens, or CVS does combined.
CVS has 2 or 3 aisles of products related to health. The rest is indistinguishable from Target or your local supermarket. When did this happen? They became Sears, etc. I’d like a bigger choice of health care related items.
These chain drug stores are based on 100% markup on the regular retail items, and having a good selection of liquor on hand. I have no idea who buys stuff there, but it’s always cheaper elsewhere.
I guess the model is get people on there, and sell a lot on the convenience buy routine.
As far as the pharmacy, it’s fine, because I have an excellent part d plan. But there are always sketchy characters around getting their painkillers, usually with another sketchy buddy waiting in the car.
It seems that the leadership of CVS at least realize that their merchandise strategy has stalled. They now seem to be adding to their health care offerings with on site vaccinations and simple tests. Who knows, they may develop a more profitable niche.
I don’t have business with CVS, but I get all my prescriptions from Walgreens.
One I have sent to me from their specialty pharmacy. This is the first I’ve heard about their CEO leaving.
Drugstores are an odd combination of pharmacy and convenience store. Almost everything they sell other than prescriptions is also sold in supermarkets and big box retailers like Walmart, Target and Costco. Now the big box retailers also have inhouse pharmacies, and more and more supermarkets have included pharmacies.
It’s not clear why free standing drugstores should continue to exist other than the convenience store factor. But they don’t have longer hours, and often the supermarket is just as close.
Worse, DEPRESSION. AGENDA 30 IS THE NEW AGENDA 21. NET ZERO CITIES, FOOD, ETC. Could you live on 2, 500 calories a day? Smart clothes that track your uses.
Alarm grows over major climate proposal to slash flights, food, clothing | Frontline News (LINKS)
‘Sounds like climate lockdowns’
Public alarm is growing over a proposal put forth by several cities to limit flights, food, and clothing to “fight climate change.” Frontline News reported in May on the climate proposal from C40, a network of nearly 100 mayors who have pledged to transform their cities to meet the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Guidelines. Participating cities include Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, DC, Dubai, Mumbai, Barcelona, Paris, London, Tel Aviv, Beijing, Cape Town, Tokyo, Sydney, and others. To meet the WHO’s guidelines, C40 has proposed a slew of measures such as limiting taxpayers to one flight every two years, which the proposal refers to as the “progressive target for 2030.” The “ambitious target” for 2030 limits flights to one every three years. Each flight should be limited to a distance of no more than 1,500 km (932 miles). Other C40 initiatives include reducing the consumption of clothing and textiles by 39% by 2030, which tallies to eight new garments a year. The ambitious target, however, is only three garments per year. https://frontline.news/post/alarm-grows-over-major-climate-proposal-to-slash-flights-food-clothing
CALORIES PER DAY. NOT SUFFICIENT FOR HEALTH. https://www.healthgrades.com/right-care/food-nutrition-and-diet/how-many-calories-should-you-eat-in-a-day
This is a most peculiar piece. CVS is a huge pharmacy benefits manager and health insurer, who also owns a chain of drugstores. One would expect an article on a financial site to focus on their primary businesses.
I quit doing scrips w/CVS when it went woke.
The Walgreens near my office has closed. The store had lots of undocumented shoppers visiting it. A CVS here split and gave most of the store space to a Hispanic store while having just the pharmacy in it.
Could the company also see that a huge liability might have been attached to CVS corp with some sort of public health effort that happened within their walls. Private equity is not going to buy that part of the business, whatever signed agreements with government cannot be sold, but the store out front, the real estate and the distribution system have a value.
One part of getting corp loans and maintaining revolvers is the ability to quickly sell assets. Lawyers involved are going to look at the 3 year history of CVS corp programs and go, there is a huge unknown liability here. We can buy all the parts and leave the core stuck with jibby jabby liabilities. CVS needs to sell some real estate, at the bottom of the cycle, just to raise some cash to prepare themselves for a bed bath beyond dismantling. Make the front of the stores 711s and the back of the store cannabis dispensaries.
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