Desperate times call for desperate measures. Who knew that selling beer and liquor were desperate measures?
Apparently the Walgreens' family.
Life in the drugstore business is brutal unless you're CVS. But more about Walgreens' and CVS later.
As a kid, I loved going to the drugstore. Way back then, the big name was Cunningham's. They had the best selection of candy, comics, toys and fun things that you wouldn't find elsewhere. Each aisle was filled with unique stuff that you wanted to buy.
Alas Cunningham's went out of business and the new chains came into place such as Arbor. But Arbor was sterile and had 3 pieces of everything on their shelves. It wasn't fun to shop. But they made a ton of money and sold out to CVS.
The Detroit News ran a story on independent drugstores in Michigan and most of them are gone or going. It's a tough business because of insurance payments, mail-order prescriptions and inventory control among other things. The fun and personal touch of the business is gone.
I am happy say that there is one mini-chain still in business and doing quite well-Savon Drugs. Family run stores, they took a chapter from Cunningham's and they now have the best candy selection. They have all the penny candies like Mary Jane, Squirrels, and Black Jacks. They have candy necklaces, Pixie Sticks and juice in the bottle. They also have movie size candy and yummy, who doesn't love Raisinettes, Goobers and Twizzlers'?
But at the end, CVS is #1, Walgreens' is #2 and Rite-Aid is a distant #3. Walgreens' a family owned business never sold alcohol for personal reasons. In fact, they were closed on Sunday's for quite a while. Now to increase their sales, they have decided to add alcohol. So all their stores are being refitted and viola, Bud Light and Grey Goose can be yours with your script and Marlboro's.
Costco sells alcohol and a lot of it. Why? It increases sales.
So here is a proposal: let's feature beer and wine in salons. Let's have the opportunity to offer it to our clients when they come in. With alcohol sales up, why not? I know of several salons that used to feature martini Wednesday's, Cabernet Thursdays and so forth to build the business. It worked until the cops showed up.
Hey, if Walgreens' can do it and Costco already does, it's an idea that makes sense. Truthfully any idea that gets us more business is a good one these days.
Happy Wednesday!
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