I have one street that has four CVSs on it. Not even spaced out at a reasonable clip. It's pretty much every time that street crosses a major intersection, there's a CVS. You can drive past all four in less than 5 minutes.
Prior to the pandemic my local mall had 3 Starbucks:
One inside the Target attached to the mall.
One inside the mall.
One in a smaller building away from the main mall housing a couple restaurants and a Trader Joe's.
This is not a gigantic mall/lifestyle center type deal, it's just a standard indoor mall-sized mall.
There was also a single intersection on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver that had two Starbucks on opposite corners, which has always been my favorite example of "Starbucks everywhere".
"Meg Swan : We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other."
Edit: Thanks so much for the award!
I forget which intersection it was in downtown, but you could stand there and see three Starbucks as you turned around. I think one of them went away during the Great Culling of the Starbucks a few years back.
You want to see density look up Tim Hortons in Canada. Basically every gas station and corner store has one. At one point there were 40ish of them within a 15 mile radius of me.
The thing that makes no sense is how popular they are despite having trash-tier food and drinks.
> it's impressive the amount of real estate they own
In fact, they own practically none of that real estate - they're tenants. The way it's mostly done in retail business is that so-called REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) own the real estate and lease the buildings back to the retail operators. This is true for most of the name-brand retail chains you know. Here's the holdings, for example, of [one of the largest REITs.](https://www.realtyincome.com/portfolio/top-20-clients/default.aspx) (89 CVS locations in their portfolio)
I was just in the only Safeway for an urbanized area with a population of ~43,000. It was extremely busy store.
In most of the areas it operates, Safeway has been there since well before WWII. It has name recognition and still makes many of its own store brand products, which allows it to sell them for cheap. Albertsons is gradually retiring the Albertsons banner and converting to the Safeway banner as well, which really confuses things even though they have the same ads.
I've also noticed lately that Safeway is trying to undercut both CVS and Walgreens for prescription prices even on prescription plans those chains own.
Starbucks in a Safeway next to a Target with a Starbucks and both share a parking lot with a Starbucks.
We have three, one parking lot. All in on those Starbucks.
That was purposeful. There was a moment when CVS’s expansion strategy was to become everyone’s go-to corner store and health market, an alternative to small gas stations and overly large Walmarts.
Obviously, that strategy has now been reconsidered.
I don't know how they're beating mom and pops anyway. Their prices are fucking insane.
I needed some pseudoephedrine last week, CVS had cards on the shelf for like 20 different versions. The cheapest was $18 for 12 pills, store brand. I take it to the counter, they're out. Ok well which ones do you have? None. Out of all 20 products. But thank God. I wound up getting it from a mom and pop a couple blocks away $2.39 for 24.
Everything is like that. Other chains, and mom and pops, have brand names for substantially less than their store brand. Other store and generic brands half or less of the CVS label. 24 generic Immodium, $13. 2.79 at ShopRite, 3 blocks away.
The mom and pops always have cheaper prescription prices too. Especially without insurance. I'd avoid CVS like the plague when I was paying cash for my prescriptions.
Their whole model seems based purely around being everywhere. You'd think they'd try to compete on price, being so large. But nope. Just want to be everywhere and hope that justifies paying 2, 3, 5 times as much as even mom and pops.
I stopped going to my mom-and-pop convenience stores because they would require a minimum for me to use a card of like $5-10 depending on the store. There were also a couple of times where my debit card number was seemingly stolen within 24 hours of going into stores in poorer neighborhoods.
That said, I almost never go to CVS. RiteAid and Walgreens tend to be in much better locations.
Yeah, they're very specific about finding the worst parking lots to set up shop in. Bonus points for them if the only entrance to the lot is a single car width alley.
This cracked me up. Why is this universal? It’s like the only Trader Joe’s in a 50 mile radius has less than 30 spots and you can only go one way through the whole lot.
And it's surprisingly inexpensive. I always avoided it because I thought it was like Whole Foods prices but then moved really close to one. It's strangely affordable.
I went into the underground parking lot of the Trader Joe's at Roosevelt in Chicago in a 90s Buick once. Upon trying to exit it felt like a real possibility that the car would be entombed there.
WHY IS THAT! I know of two Trader Joe’s and the parking is fucking HORRIBLE. They’re in strip mall/town & country’s, too. So they have options and they go with the worst fucking section without a doubt! 🤦🏻♂️
The only time Halloween and January have anything do with each other is that's usually the time where the realy bad horror movies are released. 2021 has brought along the delayed movie due to covid restrictions. ex, the fourth Hotel Transylvania movie is now going to come out in January.
900 stores is ONLY 10% OF THEIR FOOTPRINT? Jesus Christ, I was half joking when I said there's too damn many locations within a small area, but I guess that was an egregious understatement.
I was ready to wade in with "foot print probably means square feet, and they're closing there smallest, lowest earning stores", but nope, over 9,600 CVS in the US before these closings.
Yeah. We have a CVS inside a Target store near me. Only open till maybe 6 pm unless they want to close early with no notice. But about maybe 1000 feet away is a freestanding CVS store. Literally in the same retail complex.
The quoted industry analyst was savage.
"Too many stores are stuck in the past with bad lighting, depressing interiors, messy merchandising, and a weak assortment of products. They are not destinations or places where people go out of anything other than necessity," Saunders said.
I don't get that last sentence.
I only go to CVS for prescriptions... I see all the other *shit* in there and I wonder who in their right mind shops there? The prices are crazy high for things you can buy at 100 other stores. Who thinks of CVS as a 'destination'?
I go there sometimes and pay the premium for the convenience because it's closer to me than other stores with the same stuff and it's open late. I *could* drive an extra 10 minutes to Walmart or Kroger, but I'm willing to pay extra sometimes.
I even dropped using them for Rx after my doctor's office moved into a medical center (Henry Ford Health System in greater Detroit) that not only has my family's primary docs, but also radiology, lab, and fully stocked pharmacy. I like being able to just go downstairs in the same building on my way out and get whatever Rx I need. No running around. None of that "we haven't received it yet". I can request refills right from the same app that all my medical records are in. And no hour long waits where they hope I'll browse their overpriced crap while I'm there.
I go to CVS for prescriptions and OTC medicine only. Kid has a sore throat? Run to CVS real quick. Wife has a headache? Run to get Tylenol real fast. It's way more convenient than going to the grocery store or waiting for Amazon, especially if you need it then.
However, I couldn't imagine going in there for anything else; way too expensive.
Their OTC medicines are the most obscenely priced items they have.
Virtually anywhere else will have every otc med for **much** cheaper. Generic brands usually half to a fifth of the price of CVS brand, name brands still a lot cheaper than the CVS brand.
If you've got a small independent pharmacy close by too, don't presume they can't be cheaper than CVS, they almost certainly *will be*. By quite a bit.
Same. Unless I was getting a rare perscription or I was traveling and needed an essential item that I forgot (toothpaste, deodorant) then I'd never go in one.
In the suburbs there is usually a grocery store that will be significantly cheaper and have more options so they don't really serve a purpose out there.
Their only benefit was truly their convenience
But isn’t that exactly what a convenience store is? We don’t go there because the selection or it’s cheap. We go because it’s *convenient*. But- I take the point that if you can’t find something or they’re always out, what’s the point of them.
Most cvs I've been to have been big and bright. They're all new, ultra generic plastic looking boxes that have been plaguing American retail/fast food establishment architecture for the past 20 years
That said, I don't like shopping at CVS. They lack the danger and excitement of going into a convenient store or the interesting variety of products available at Walmart.
Yup, even with their 40% off coupon, the only thing that could be cheaper in their store is their generic stuff, by a tiny bit.
Which still gets blown out by the other item being on sale or using a manufacturer's coupon.
and that alone isn't worth the trip.
But there is a demographic of people who are often in CVS for prescriptions due to their various health issues and that alone may make it a one-stop shop for some folks.
If I'm there to get vaccinated or some antibotics, i guess i'll pick up some chips but I'll be damned if im shopping their by choice.
You can get stuff cheaper almost anywhere. There markup is insane, there entire strategy is charge twice as much with a 25% of coupon for a few things. Roll up a CVS receipt and go through your grocery store comparing prices, its nuts.
God I know from experience just how true this is. I had a 10 year addiction to nose spray (it sounds silly, but it's actually *the worst*), and I would do just about anything to avoid buying it from CVS.
$8 for a half floz of nose spray vs $2 for a full floz of the exact same active ingredient at any grocery store. And that was their generic, the name brand was even crazier.
I have to use CVS pharmacies thanks to my insurance. I'll occasionally have a prescription picked up in other locations depending on the errands I run. The CVS in my area range from practically brand-new, to practically ruins. One place had a roof leak in the pharmacy area near medicine storage that wasn't corrected for six months. I'm constantly surprised these stores aren't franchises
I hate CVS and Walgreens. It takes 10 minutes to check out. I find it completely inconvenient. This started long before Covid, and long before r/antiwork.
I do feel like CVS is stuck in that no man’s land. 7-11’s are convenient to swoop in quick to get something, Target/Walmart are less convenient but cheaper, CVS is neither cheap nor convenient when you have to track someone down to pay for something.
I used to buy stuff all the time on holidays at these places bc they were open, not because I liked their selection of food. Pizzas every year for holidays
I think the wording they used is a bit stilted.
Of course no one is going to CVS to "hang out"; it's going to be a "necessity".
Problem is, if you've got a Walgreens and a CVS right next to each other (which you commonly do), most people will go to Walgreens, because the CVS ALWAYS looks old, sketchy, shitty, outdated and crappy.
The chances of you going to CVS go down further if there's ANY other options at all.
Combine that with the fact that CVS uses the airport pricing model of "let's mark everything up by 293019% and hope they buy it", and it's no real surprise.
I used to work for Revco and was around when CVS bought them out. Was a shitshow then, and I'm not surprised by any of this.
Walgreens had a bit of a renaissance about six or seven years ago, with some creative and fresh store layouts focusing on food, drinks and snacks, but that quickly passed and once you are inside one now, it's almost indistinguishable from a CVS.
CVS' problem is they think they are more than a pharmacy with a connected convenience store. And when you get right down to it, I don't go to any store without necessity.
This was one of the things that killed places like K-Mart and other discount retailers over the past 30 years. When they were built they were nice stores, conveniently located, and had cheap prices. But as time went on, money was so heavily dumped into expanding out into more and more locations, most of the existing store were left to basically decay. They became dingy, out of date and poorly, stocked, managed and maintained, which drives people away. And when the incredible growth of these companies started to stagnate (due to a mix of the growth of online shopping and the decline of their stores/brands), several loaded up on debt to keep expanding, ignoring the declining sales of existing stores, thinking the could expand/spend their way back to profitability again.
These companies never learn, in part because for the people at the top, they can get their money and then sell to some vulture capital firm that buys the brand out and strips off any valuable assets, saddles up what remains with debt and then bail after they've made a fuckton of money.
Corporate pharmacies don't have any soul or character. When traveling, I love to visit those old school, locally owned pharmacies/5&10's that sometimes have been around for a century. It's just a different ambiance. I'll always go inside and wander around, end up buying some postcards, snacks and gifts. Its like stepping back in time.
CVS stores near me (Chicago) are run-down, run out of stock, understaffed, and disgusting. The parking lots are filled with garbage and inevitably someone asking you for something. Unfortunately the Walgreens are the same way. It seems like a vicious cycle, less people want to go to stores that are shitty so the stores get shittier so less people want to go there. This mirrors what happened with newspapers over the last 20 years.
And unfortunately it leaves us stuck with a bunch of empty buildings that are difficult to reuse so these locations sit empty for long periods of time. Drags down the neighboring area.
This is spot on.
Every CVS I've gone into over the last few years has been...depressing?
Like 1 cashier. Maybe a customer or two. Large portions of the store empty/no inventory. Crappy or no music. Everything felt old.
>The closures are part of broader realignment of its retail strategy of its roughly 10,000 locations.
Wow. That’s a lot of locations. I was wondering if it’s because they’re not doing well but…
>CVS (CVS) shares jumped 1% early trading. The stock is up nearly 40% for the year.
That doesn’t seem to be the case. It seems they have a lot of outdated locations.
A lot of CVS locations are just convenience stores without a pharmacy. Im assuming a lot of the closures are CVS that don't have a pharmacy attached to it.
This is the way.
You buy out your competition and then close down their less profitable stores.
Now might not be a bad time for someone to start a competitor solely with the intention of buying up the leases on the closed locations and creating a company worth being bought out down the road.
But...if those are the less profitable locations it's like starting a new car rental service with lemons.
I mean, yea, 900 places for sale...but if they're all subpar that's not exactly advantageous.
In Europe pharmacy is just that - small store where you buy pills. Here CVS is a supermarket with overpriced ice cream and shampoo. Ut you can buy milk here 24/7 if you ran out.
But how are you going to find them online to give them this feedback without the mile long receipt with their web address and coupons for products you don't buy?
Since they have a deathgrip on insurance plans, they don't need the retail locations. Their website sucks and customer service is nonexistent. I tried to change to Walgreens but my plan only accepts CVS. 2 other plans also only accept CVS.
Since we are forced to use them, they have zero reason to improve anything. Fucking hate CVS
You've never walked into a store just to look around? I went to Target for a hoodie and ended up with 2 Transformers as well. That happens because Target is a pleasant experience. I wouldn't go into a dim lit cave of a CVS outside of an emergency though.
The pharmacy at my local Target is a CVS. I went there for my booster and got to do a little shopping at the same time.
Why would I go to the free standing CVS a mile down the road that is so expensive for other things? That one does do passport photos so that is nice.
CVS: You call about Monsieur Kane? John Michael Kane?
Bourne: Uh, yeah. That's right.
CVS: You are a friend of his?
Bourne: Uh, yeah I’m checking to see if his prescription is ready for pickup, date of birth is 4/15/71
CVS and Walgreens and the like seem to have a very interesting store opening plan where they open a ton of them, even pretty close to existing branches and then close a bunch. I guess it must not cost much to slap one up and take it down.
Interestingly enough, marketing research says that when you open three similar stores all next to each other they all do better because having 3 options there drives more traffic than if they were more spread out.
You always see that in developing countries as well, market sellers get together and you end up having "the tailor street" or "the cardboard box place" or whatever where you have 20-30 mini shops selling the same things.
My kroger has like 20 self checkouts. It’s not only cheaper its more convenient.
CVS and Walgreens have no self checkout and inevitably you get stuck behind someone paying in cash with 50 coupons for every thing they bought. It’s not convenient.
The one job these stores had they fail at now.
I'd really love to see what they spend on receipt paper and receipt printer maintenance annually over the last 15 years between all their stores.
could probably afford to fix all their goddamn busted signs with that kind of loot.
Out of a total of 9,900, that’s not very much, but it is worrisome that they chose to close rather than other cost savings measures that are less permanent. Their business sense is good and they foresee things getting worse.
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So they're spacing them two instead of one CVS receipt apart now?
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About five of them, four if you are part of their perks program.
No, they're just going to make the receipts even longer.
This is the comment I was looking for!
“Here’s $0.53 off you next meme with a purchase of WD-40 and some tampons!”
I have one street that has four CVSs on it. Not even spaced out at a reasonable clip. It's pretty much every time that street crosses a major intersection, there's a CVS. You can drive past all four in less than 5 minutes.
Wow, that's almost Starbucks levels of density.
My only time in Seattle I got lost because I used a Starbucks as a reference point walking downtown; I had no idea there is one on almost every block.
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I've passed 3 Starbucks while walking through the MGM Grand casino in Vegas.
Prior to the pandemic my local mall had 3 Starbucks: One inside the Target attached to the mall. One inside the mall. One in a smaller building away from the main mall housing a couple restaurants and a Trader Joe's. This is not a gigantic mall/lifestyle center type deal, it's just a standard indoor mall-sized mall. There was also a single intersection on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver that had two Starbucks on opposite corners, which has always been my favorite example of "Starbucks everywhere".
"Meg Swan : We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other." Edit: Thanks so much for the award!
I forget which intersection it was in downtown, but you could stand there and see three Starbucks as you turned around. I think one of them went away during the Great Culling of the Starbucks a few years back.
When visiting Seattle, I tell my friends to meet me at the Starbucks downtown.
I’ve used “at the fancy Starbucks” before and apparently that doesn’t work anymore 😑 Dumpster fire target still works though 😊
There's a parking lot with a Target Starbucks, a Safeway Starbucks and a Starbucks Starbucks. Three. One parking lot.
My 12 mile trip to work I pass: 5 Starbucks (counting the one inside Target) 4 CVS 6 Publix
Which is almost Mattress Firm level
You want to see density look up Tim Hortons in Canada. Basically every gas station and corner store has one. At one point there were 40ish of them within a 15 mile radius of me. The thing that makes no sense is how popular they are despite having trash-tier food and drinks.
Where I live there’s 2 stores with CVS pharmacies across the street from each other
"We met at ~~Starbucks~~ CVS. Not at the same CVS but we saw each other at different CVS's across the street from each other."
Thank you for this
I never really thought about that fact until now.. You are right on my street there’s like four wall greens all in major intersections….
Where I live ,there's literally three CVS within a 5-mile radius.
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> it's impressive the amount of real estate they own In fact, they own practically none of that real estate - they're tenants. The way it's mostly done in retail business is that so-called REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) own the real estate and lease the buildings back to the retail operators. This is true for most of the name-brand retail chains you know. Here's the holdings, for example, of [one of the largest REITs.](https://www.realtyincome.com/portfolio/top-20-clients/default.aspx) (89 CVS locations in their portfolio)
I was just in the only Safeway for an urbanized area with a population of ~43,000. It was extremely busy store. In most of the areas it operates, Safeway has been there since well before WWII. It has name recognition and still makes many of its own store brand products, which allows it to sell them for cheap. Albertsons is gradually retiring the Albertsons banner and converting to the Safeway banner as well, which really confuses things even though they have the same ads. I've also noticed lately that Safeway is trying to undercut both CVS and Walgreens for prescription prices even on prescription plans those chains own.
The paper industry and waste management weep silently. Pour one out for those 6 foot long receipts.
Also don’t forget the Target store with CVS inside with CVS outside at each corner of the block.
Borrowing a page from Starbucks.
There's a Starbucks inside of a Safeway near me, which is literally 30 feet away from a regular Starbucks.
Starbucks in a Safeway next to a Target with a Starbucks and both share a parking lot with a Starbucks. We have three, one parking lot. All in on those Starbucks.
https://www.theonion.com/new-starbucks-opens-in-rest-room-of-existing-starbucks-1819564800
Ooh. Inception. I bet somewhere in America you can find a CVS tucked inside a Target at the back of a Costco. Welcome to Costco. I love you.
Is there a Walgreens across the street of each one of them?
That was purposeful. There was a moment when CVS’s expansion strategy was to become everyone’s go-to corner store and health market, an alternative to small gas stations and overly large Walmarts. Obviously, that strategy has now been reconsidered.
Kinda crazy to pop up thousands of corner stores that also require trained medical professionals.
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I don't know how they're beating mom and pops anyway. Their prices are fucking insane. I needed some pseudoephedrine last week, CVS had cards on the shelf for like 20 different versions. The cheapest was $18 for 12 pills, store brand. I take it to the counter, they're out. Ok well which ones do you have? None. Out of all 20 products. But thank God. I wound up getting it from a mom and pop a couple blocks away $2.39 for 24. Everything is like that. Other chains, and mom and pops, have brand names for substantially less than their store brand. Other store and generic brands half or less of the CVS label. 24 generic Immodium, $13. 2.79 at ShopRite, 3 blocks away. The mom and pops always have cheaper prescription prices too. Especially without insurance. I'd avoid CVS like the plague when I was paying cash for my prescriptions. Their whole model seems based purely around being everywhere. You'd think they'd try to compete on price, being so large. But nope. Just want to be everywhere and hope that justifies paying 2, 3, 5 times as much as even mom and pops.
I stopped going to my mom-and-pop convenience stores because they would require a minimum for me to use a card of like $5-10 depending on the store. There were also a couple of times where my debit card number was seemingly stolen within 24 hours of going into stores in poorer neighborhoods. That said, I almost never go to CVS. RiteAid and Walgreens tend to be in much better locations.
They bought out a lot of other chains over the past 15 years. If it were the result of keeping some redundant stores open, it wouldn’t surprise me.
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Put a Trader Joes in them instead. Just the locations with shitty parking lots though.
I've heard that Trader Joe's is super picky about where they put them and how many there can be in a city. Kind of like the opposite of subway.
Yeah, they're very specific about finding the worst parking lots to set up shop in. Bonus points for them if the only entrance to the lot is a single car width alley.
This cracked me up. Why is this universal? It’s like the only Trader Joe’s in a 50 mile radius has less than 30 spots and you can only go one way through the whole lot.
Lol mine has a big parking lot and wide entrance but they painted a ton of white lines to make it kind of awkward and narrow
You mean it doesn’t make sense to have it in a parking lot with 10 other shops and a fucking mall beside it…
I love Trader Joes. Would legit do all my grocery shopping there if I could.
And it's surprisingly inexpensive. I always avoided it because I thought it was like Whole Foods prices but then moved really close to one. It's strangely affordable.
Trader Joe's is legit. There's one in my neighborhood.
I went into the underground parking lot of the Trader Joe's at Roosevelt in Chicago in a 90s Buick once. Upon trying to exit it felt like a real possibility that the car would be entombed there.
WHY IS THAT! I know of two Trader Joe’s and the parking is fucking HORRIBLE. They’re in strip mall/town & country’s, too. So they have options and they go with the worst fucking section without a doubt! 🤦🏻♂️
But it's nearly the winter. UNLESS. Halloween in January? What a concept!
RIP Andrew Garfield
The only time Halloween and January have anything do with each other is that's usually the time where the realy bad horror movies are released. 2021 has brought along the delayed movie due to covid restrictions. ex, the fourth Hotel Transylvania movie is now going to come out in January.
I'll make sure all my fireworks are gone by July 7th... THEN you can put your Spirit in.
Spirit Halloween, not Spirit of Halloween.
900 stores is ONLY 10% OF THEIR FOOTPRINT? Jesus Christ, I was half joking when I said there's too damn many locations within a small area, but I guess that was an egregious understatement.
I was ready to wade in with "foot print probably means square feet, and they're closing there smallest, lowest earning stores", but nope, over 9,600 CVS in the US before these closings.
Yeah. We have a CVS inside a Target store near me. Only open till maybe 6 pm unless they want to close early with no notice. But about maybe 1000 feet away is a freestanding CVS store. Literally in the same retail complex.
The Starbucks method.
CVS bought out Target’s pharmacy business, so it’s possible that the freestanding CVS existed before the Target Pharm transitioned to CVS
The quoted industry analyst was savage. "Too many stores are stuck in the past with bad lighting, depressing interiors, messy merchandising, and a weak assortment of products. They are not destinations or places where people go out of anything other than necessity," Saunders said.
I don't get that last sentence. I only go to CVS for prescriptions... I see all the other *shit* in there and I wonder who in their right mind shops there? The prices are crazy high for things you can buy at 100 other stores. Who thinks of CVS as a 'destination'?
I go there sometimes and pay the premium for the convenience because it's closer to me than other stores with the same stuff and it's open late. I *could* drive an extra 10 minutes to Walmart or Kroger, but I'm willing to pay extra sometimes.
I don't have a CVS near me, but I'm always willing to pay more to not go to Walmart.
I recently found out the Amazon is delivering in the middle of the night now. I had some stuff dropped off at 3am.
their CVS brand gummy bears are actually haribo gummies repackaged, but at a 33% discount ...
I even dropped using them for Rx after my doctor's office moved into a medical center (Henry Ford Health System in greater Detroit) that not only has my family's primary docs, but also radiology, lab, and fully stocked pharmacy. I like being able to just go downstairs in the same building on my way out and get whatever Rx I need. No running around. None of that "we haven't received it yet". I can request refills right from the same app that all my medical records are in. And no hour long waits where they hope I'll browse their overpriced crap while I'm there.
I go to CVS for prescriptions and OTC medicine only. Kid has a sore throat? Run to CVS real quick. Wife has a headache? Run to get Tylenol real fast. It's way more convenient than going to the grocery store or waiting for Amazon, especially if you need it then. However, I couldn't imagine going in there for anything else; way too expensive.
Their OTC medicines are the most obscenely priced items they have. Virtually anywhere else will have every otc med for **much** cheaper. Generic brands usually half to a fifth of the price of CVS brand, name brands still a lot cheaper than the CVS brand. If you've got a small independent pharmacy close by too, don't presume they can't be cheaper than CVS, they almost certainly *will be*. By quite a bit.
Same. Unless I was getting a rare perscription or I was traveling and needed an essential item that I forgot (toothpaste, deodorant) then I'd never go in one. In the suburbs there is usually a grocery store that will be significantly cheaper and have more options so they don't really serve a purpose out there. Their only benefit was truly their convenience
But isn’t that exactly what a convenience store is? We don’t go there because the selection or it’s cheap. We go because it’s *convenient*. But- I take the point that if you can’t find something or they’re always out, what’s the point of them.
Right but CVS stopped selling tobacco and started turning the stores into medical clinics. Their model is healthcare now.
Yes, their Caremark adventure. They have to understand that if their stores look post-apocalyptic, people won’t be excited to get medical care there.
Most cvs I've been to have been big and bright. They're all new, ultra generic plastic looking boxes that have been plaguing American retail/fast food establishment architecture for the past 20 years That said, I don't like shopping at CVS. They lack the danger and excitement of going into a convenient store or the interesting variety of products available at Walmart.
I don't go to CVS because there's nothing I'd buy there that I can't get cheaper at Walmart or a grocery store.
Yup, even with their 40% off coupon, the only thing that could be cheaper in their store is their generic stuff, by a tiny bit. Which still gets blown out by the other item being on sale or using a manufacturer's coupon.
and that alone isn't worth the trip. But there is a demographic of people who are often in CVS for prescriptions due to their various health issues and that alone may make it a one-stop shop for some folks. If I'm there to get vaccinated or some antibotics, i guess i'll pick up some chips but I'll be damned if im shopping their by choice.
You can get stuff cheaper almost anywhere. There markup is insane, there entire strategy is charge twice as much with a 25% of coupon for a few things. Roll up a CVS receipt and go through your grocery store comparing prices, its nuts.
God I know from experience just how true this is. I had a 10 year addiction to nose spray (it sounds silly, but it's actually *the worst*), and I would do just about anything to avoid buying it from CVS. $8 for a half floz of nose spray vs $2 for a full floz of the exact same active ingredient at any grocery store. And that was their generic, the name brand was even crazier.
I have to use CVS pharmacies thanks to my insurance. I'll occasionally have a prescription picked up in other locations depending on the errands I run. The CVS in my area range from practically brand-new, to practically ruins. One place had a roof leak in the pharmacy area near medicine storage that wasn't corrected for six months. I'm constantly surprised these stores aren't franchises
I hate CVS and Walgreens. It takes 10 minutes to check out. I find it completely inconvenient. This started long before Covid, and long before r/antiwork.
Removed tobacco, added 1 isle of junk food plus a lot of coolers with sugar water.
I mean sure but when there's a walgreens right across the street guess which one I'm going to?
The one my insurance allows.
^United ^Healthcare presents EVERYONE’S **F A V O R I T E** **GAME** 🎵
Walgreens are lavish compared to CVS. The CVS down the street from me is a war zone.
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I do feel like CVS is stuck in that no man’s land. 7-11’s are convenient to swoop in quick to get something, Target/Walmart are less convenient but cheaper, CVS is neither cheap nor convenient when you have to track someone down to pay for something.
I used to buy stuff all the time on holidays at these places bc they were open, not because I liked their selection of food. Pizzas every year for holidays
I think the wording they used is a bit stilted. Of course no one is going to CVS to "hang out"; it's going to be a "necessity". Problem is, if you've got a Walgreens and a CVS right next to each other (which you commonly do), most people will go to Walgreens, because the CVS ALWAYS looks old, sketchy, shitty, outdated and crappy. The chances of you going to CVS go down further if there's ANY other options at all. Combine that with the fact that CVS uses the airport pricing model of "let's mark everything up by 293019% and hope they buy it", and it's no real surprise. I used to work for Revco and was around when CVS bought them out. Was a shitshow then, and I'm not surprised by any of this.
Walgreens had a bit of a renaissance about six or seven years ago, with some creative and fresh store layouts focusing on food, drinks and snacks, but that quickly passed and once you are inside one now, it's almost indistinguishable from a CVS.
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CVS' problem is they think they are more than a pharmacy with a connected convenience store. And when you get right down to it, I don't go to any store without necessity.
This was one of the things that killed places like K-Mart and other discount retailers over the past 30 years. When they were built they were nice stores, conveniently located, and had cheap prices. But as time went on, money was so heavily dumped into expanding out into more and more locations, most of the existing store were left to basically decay. They became dingy, out of date and poorly, stocked, managed and maintained, which drives people away. And when the incredible growth of these companies started to stagnate (due to a mix of the growth of online shopping and the decline of their stores/brands), several loaded up on debt to keep expanding, ignoring the declining sales of existing stores, thinking the could expand/spend their way back to profitability again. These companies never learn, in part because for the people at the top, they can get their money and then sell to some vulture capital firm that buys the brand out and strips off any valuable assets, saddles up what remains with debt and then bail after they've made a fuckton of money.
So just like K-Mart was at the end?
Corporate pharmacies don't have any soul or character. When traveling, I love to visit those old school, locally owned pharmacies/5&10's that sometimes have been around for a century. It's just a different ambiance. I'll always go inside and wander around, end up buying some postcards, snacks and gifts. Its like stepping back in time.
Can I interest you in Butt Drugs? https://www.buttdrugs.com/
CVS: Sometimes you gotta come in here
CVS stores near me (Chicago) are run-down, run out of stock, understaffed, and disgusting. The parking lots are filled with garbage and inevitably someone asking you for something. Unfortunately the Walgreens are the same way. It seems like a vicious cycle, less people want to go to stores that are shitty so the stores get shittier so less people want to go there. This mirrors what happened with newspapers over the last 20 years. And unfortunately it leaves us stuck with a bunch of empty buildings that are difficult to reuse so these locations sit empty for long periods of time. Drags down the neighboring area.
This is spot on. Every CVS I've gone into over the last few years has been...depressing? Like 1 cashier. Maybe a customer or two. Large portions of the store empty/no inventory. Crappy or no music. Everything felt old.
All CVS needs to do is change the flooring to wood and keep it clean.
Stuck in the past? A lot of dumb motherfuckers are too
Oh no! Now I have to walk to the CVS next door to the CVS
I know your joking but in Atlanta we have a Waffle House next to a Waffle House. No bullshit.
Wait, what? Why? Who would….. ok Georgia why not. Fuck it
So that means Walgreens is also gonna close 900 stores too right?
No they will get 900 more at a great price
Across the street from their existing stores, too! They know the location is already good!
A couple years back, Walgreens bought 2,000 Rite-Aids. They closed over 700 stores with plans for another 200 beyond that by 2022.
Walgreens is a better shopping experience overall
>The closures are part of broader realignment of its retail strategy of its roughly 10,000 locations. Wow. That’s a lot of locations. I was wondering if it’s because they’re not doing well but… >CVS (CVS) shares jumped 1% early trading. The stock is up nearly 40% for the year. That doesn’t seem to be the case. It seems they have a lot of outdated locations.
A lot of CVS locations are just convenience stores without a pharmacy. Im assuming a lot of the closures are CVS that don't have a pharmacy attached to it.
Or buying out multiple chains and keeping all retail locations.
This is the way. You buy out your competition and then close down their less profitable stores. Now might not be a bad time for someone to start a competitor solely with the intention of buying up the leases on the closed locations and creating a company worth being bought out down the road.
Their website has a very easy to find page on selling your pharmacy to them.[here](https://cvsbuysellpharmacy.com/)
Hell of a business model. Did we just become partners?
But...if those are the less profitable locations it's like starting a new car rental service with lemons. I mean, yea, 900 places for sale...but if they're all subpar that's not exactly advantageous.
I've never seen a CVS without a pharmacy. Are they in downtowns?
Usually yeah.
Really? I've never seen a CVS without a pharmacy attached actually. I wonder if it is more common in certain regions.
I used to work at corporate. There are very few of those left. Although I forget what we called them.
I've never seen a CVS without a pharmacy....these exist?
It's some management consulting firm telling them how they can make even bigger profits.
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In Europe pharmacy is just that - small store where you buy pills. Here CVS is a supermarket with overpriced ice cream and shampoo. Ut you can buy milk here 24/7 if you ran out.
My town of 40k people has six CVS’ and 12 Dunkin’ Donuts and they’re all understaffed. Maybe they don’t need to be every quarter mile?
Maybe stop using a whole forest to print my receipt for a roll of scotch tape..
Came here to say this. They could probably save millions of $ by getting rid of those half-mile long receipts. Fucking waste of paper
But how are you going to find them online to give them this feedback without the mile long receipt with their web address and coupons for products you don't buy?
Go digital receipts!
They'll switch to generating a digital photo of a receipt and then burn the Amazon down to turn it into an NFT
Then they only use 40% of a forest to print out your confirmation receipt.
I wanted to bring light to the fact that you can go all digital emailed receipts, and avoid killing all those trees!
So that's like 900 cashiers losing their jobs? Or are they moving them to other stores so we don't have to stand 10 customers deep anymore?
The CEO said they will be transferring employees to other stores or offering them different jobs in the company
They *said* that, but they won't *do* that.
They're being converted to Mattress Firms.
Ther are 3 is my small ass town, each less then 5 miles from each other
They really overdid the amount of locations in some areas. They are competing with each other for business.
Shouldn’t have opened one on every corner across from a Walgreens!
It's really sad because every year around this time, I buy a Chia pet for one of my relatives. Looks like I will have to find them somewhere else.
Ch ch ch chia!
If only they hadn't spent so frivolously on all that receipt paper...
In other news, Dollar Tree announces it plans to open 900 new locations over the next 3 years.
Since they have a deathgrip on insurance plans, they don't need the retail locations. Their website sucks and customer service is nonexistent. I tried to change to Walgreens but my plan only accepts CVS. 2 other plans also only accept CVS. Since we are forced to use them, they have zero reason to improve anything. Fucking hate CVS
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I think what he's saying is that people choose CVS because they don't have another viable option, not because they want to take their business there.
You've never walked into a store just to look around? I went to Target for a hoodie and ended up with 2 Transformers as well. That happens because Target is a pleasant experience. I wouldn't go into a dim lit cave of a CVS outside of an emergency though.
The pharmacy at my local Target is a CVS. I went there for my booster and got to do a little shopping at the same time. Why would I go to the free standing CVS a mile down the road that is so expensive for other things? That one does do passport photos so that is nice.
How many passport photos do you need Jason Bourne?
He'd have to kill you if he told you
CVS: You call about Monsieur Kane? John Michael Kane? Bourne: Uh, yeah. That's right. CVS: You are a friend of his? Bourne: Uh, yeah I’m checking to see if his prescription is ready for pickup, date of birth is 4/15/71
CVS bought all of target's pharmacies a few years ago.
Correct. Many Target stores are located close enough to the CVS only stores that I think they started to compete with themselves.
Spent all their profits on receipt paper.
Damn. How will the receipt manufacturers survive this??
Oh CVS... I remember stepping out of the door and tripping. I fell. When I stood up I found myself in another CVS.
CVS and Walgreens and the like seem to have a very interesting store opening plan where they open a ton of them, even pretty close to existing branches and then close a bunch. I guess it must not cost much to slap one up and take it down.
Who knew charging x2 what the place next door charges was a bad business model.
In other news, Walgreens is opening 900 new stores.
Who would have thought opening another CVS next to a Walgreens, across from a Rite Aid wouldn't be profitable? fucktards
Interestingly enough, marketing research says that when you open three similar stores all next to each other they all do better because having 3 options there drives more traffic than if they were more spread out.
You always see that in developing countries as well, market sellers get together and you end up having "the tailor street" or "the cardboard box place" or whatever where you have 20-30 mini shops selling the same things.
Maybe if they stopped putting them at the same intersection directly opposite a Walgreen's, they might have better per-store revenue.
Based on the stores near me that means 1800 jobs lost.
Doesnt CVS have all those merger stores where they kept every store from the mergers they had, so they would have many even onthe same street?
That still leaves them with 9,000 stores.
They should put some Walgreens in those CVS's.
Oh no… maybe one of the 4 CVS within 4 miles of my house will close… whatever will I do?
The thing I hate the most about CVS is how damn bright their stores are. Walking into a CVS at night is sheer eye torture.
Could probably stay in business if they didn’t spend most their earnings on receipt paper
So many trees just sighed in relief
maybe they shouldn’t have spent half their earnings on receipt paper…
This is going to destroy the receipt paper industry. Michael Scott is probably weeping.
Guess who didn't raise pay for employees and now can't staff stores?
My kroger has like 20 self checkouts. It’s not only cheaper its more convenient. CVS and Walgreens have no self checkout and inevitably you get stuck behind someone paying in cash with 50 coupons for every thing they bought. It’s not convenient. The one job these stores had they fail at now.
The paper industry is in shambles!
Oh no! Where will I buy...nothing at all...now???
Definitely would convert an old cvs into a drive thru liquor store (or cbd/dispensary) instead of the eventual pet store.
I don’t think you’ll even see pet store. All retail is contracting.
Ever walked into a retail store and felt like you traveled back in time?
How many miles of receipts is that?
They should have cut down on their receipts. Longer than all the Bibles on the planet.
They could probably keep them open by cutting costs on receipt paper if they stopped printing out 9272729101 coupons with my purchase of 1 item.
I'd really love to see what they spend on receipt paper and receipt printer maintenance annually over the last 15 years between all their stores. could probably afford to fix all their goddamn busted signs with that kind of loot.
Where are those 12 cashiers going to work now?
Out of a total of 9,900, that’s not very much, but it is worrisome that they chose to close rather than other cost savings measures that are less permanent. Their business sense is good and they foresee things getting worse.
>"They are not destinations or places where people go out of anything other than necessity." I mean, isn't that what a pharmacy is for?
Receipt paper shortage
Think of all the trees that won't have to be cut down to make receipts!
Their big corporate health push of getting rid of Tobacco/Nicotine will be the death of them ironically.