On the verge of finalizing the acquisition that will make it the country’s
largest retail pharmacy chain, Woonsocket-based CVS/pharmacy is preparing to
begin renovations to more than 1,200 Eckerd drugstores in Florida and Texas.
But curious customers wanting to get a feel for CVS’ new-look stores only have to travel as far south as Wakefield to get a complete picture.
Opened last August, a CVS on the town’s Main Street was one of the first locations to include all the features that will make their way into the newly acquired southern stores. About two dozen stores currently contain CVS’ new skin-care centers and all together only about 80 stores showcase the rest of the layout changes that will gradually make their way across the operation. Most of the design elements focus on the company’s customers, 80 percent of whom are women.
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“We’ve always known who our customer was,” said company spokesman Todd Andrews. “This was about what we could do to make shopping easier. We’ve always looked to make our stores clean, uncluttered and convenient. We’ve delved a little deeper into looking at that for the last several years.”
At 20,000 square feet, the Wakefield location, created out of a gutted former strip mall in the center of town, is the largest of the company’s more than 4,100 stores. Re-set locations, such as in North Attleboro, along with brand-new stores, such as the chain’s re-entrance into the California market in Los Angeles that opened June 19, will also feature the new layout.
With the company’s deal for part of J.C. Penney Co.’s Eckerd chain expected to close within the next month, Andrews said the company would quickly begin work on converting the Eckerd store floors to the CVS name. Work will start as soon as possible on Eckerd’s former Florida locations, with CVS spending between $300,000 and $350,000 per location, most with footprints between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet.
Physically, one of the easiest changes has been a marked lowering of shelf height by a foot, down to 5 feet high, keeping in mind that the average woman’s height is 5 feet, 4 inches. Customers can stand in the front of a store and see all the way to the pharmacy in back, creating a sense of openness, Andrews said.
“The idea in the past for a retailer was to get as much out there as possible,” he added. “We’re sacrificing some retail for ease of shopping. It’s one of the decisions we’ve made.”
CVS has also decided to focus on the beauty and health care products it carries. In Wakefield, the beauty section runs the entire length of the store from front to back, showcasing cosmetics in special backlit shelves, and European brands that the chain has exclusive distribution agreements with to compete with department store offerings.
Even the men’s section has expanded a bit, with the number of skin-care products recently quadrupling and shaving options remaining a massive offering. Aisles containing shaving, oral care and baby items connect the beauty and health care sections across the store, while food and beverages have been moved to the store front to encourage impulse buys.
Elaine-Marie Notarantonio, a marketing professor at Bryant College for more than 20 years, said she thinks CVS is doing a good job of differentiating itself from its chief competitors and gaining a competitive advantage.
For example, Notarantonio pointed to the seasonal aisles at the front of the stores, usually the widest and most visible, which contain high-margin items by design. Now, during the summer months, keeping in mind that mothers are among the target market, those areas contain things like sunscreen and mosquito repellent. On the shelves below, at a child’s eye level, are beach toys and lawn games.
“All drugstores recognize it,” she said. “But CVS has really experimented with specializing their space and keying in on who they want to target and what appeals to that target.”
Signage packages have also been taken to a new level in Wakefield. Along with traditional signs hanging from the ceiling that generally identify an aisle’s contents, smaller bull’s-eyes and lollipop signs direct customers to certain items, and visible tags point to the items on sale when a customer uses their ExtraCare cards.
Andrews noted that other items are also being arranged in different ways on the shelves, specifically noting the products in the vitamin, nutrition and diet aisles. Once aligned according to manufacturer, those are now arranged with an eye toward what the product is meant to treat and with a more detailed description on the shelf. The pharmacy area has separate windows for pickup and prescription drop-off, as well as another area where a customer can talk face to face with the pharmacist and have some measure of privacy.
The package of renovations will also involve cosmetic work, such as lighting packages that take advantage of natural light whenever possible and new carpeting to mesh with a brighter, more vibrant color scheme. While not using the exact same palette from location to location, Andrews said bright blues, plums, oranges and yellows are making their way into stores, part of an effort to “create a vibrant, upbeat experience that conveys energy.”
The new Wakefield location is a marked difference from its former existence in a 9,000-square-foot area, attached to a shopping plaza anchored by a Benny’s store where the taller shelves were closer together, closing a shopper off from the rest of the store. The move to a new site that was literally next door has made a big difference. Declining to provide sales numbers, Andrews said free-standing stores always do better than attached locations and did say the location is one of the chain’s busiest.
Announced in April, the Eckerd deal will make CVS the largest pharmacy retailer
in the United States by store count, growing to nearly 5,500 locations in 36
states, and jumping past competitor Walgreen Co., which has a storefront tally
a bit under 4,400.
