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Shoppers Drug Mart
Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation (TSX: SC) is Canada's largest pharmacy chain with more than 1000 stores operating under the names Shoppers Drug Mart in nine provinces and two territories and Pharmaprix in Quebec. The SuperPharm (Hebrew: סופר פארם) chain in Israel, Poland, and China, was also founded by the Koffler family and uses the same logo and some of the same private-label brands, such as Life and LifeStyle. It remains family-owned. Additional recommended knowledge
OverviewShoppers Drug Marts are full-service pharmacies, located in prime locations in every province and two territories, and the chain claims to be the most convenient retail chain in Canada. Core pharmacy services such as prescription dispensing and patient counselling are operated under the "HealthWatch" sub-brand. Most Shoppers locations also sell over-the-counter medications, health and beauty aids, cosmetics and fragrances – including several high-end "prestige" brands – and other everyday-use general merchandise. The chain's private labels are Life Brand, and Quo Cosmetics. As the company states, these high-end stores combine Health, Beauty and Convenience. Each large new format store includes at least five food aisles, a healthy living section, a cosmetics centre, a Carlton Cards aisle, an Easypix digital centre/photolab and a full selection of over-the-counter drugs and health products. Some stores have a full service Canada Post Postal Centre. HistoryAt the age of twenty, Murray Koffler inherited two Koffler's Drugs pharmacies in suburban Toronto (one in the Don Mills Centre shopping mall). By 1962, Koffler's had grown to a chain of 17 pharmacies, which he renamed "Shoppers Drug Mart". Koffler revamped the concept of the twentieth century “drug store” in Canada by removing the soda fountain and emphasizing the dispensary, requiring his pharmacists to wear starched white coats as a symbol of their professionalism. In the mid-1950s, he began acquiring other drug stores and organized them around a then-novel franchising concept: pharmacist “associates” would own and operate their own stores within the system and share in the profits; among the more notable drug store chains acquired by Shoppers Drug Mart under Koffler was the British Columbia-based Cunningham Drug Stores Ltd., which was absorbed into Shoppers in 1970. When Koffler retired in 1983, he sold the chain to Imasco, formerly Imperial Tobacco, at that time Canada's largest tobacco company. Between 1983 and 2001, David Bloom was the CEO. His leadership prompted the creation of store-branded trademarks including HealthWatch, PharmExpert, Life Brand, Quo, Rialto and Shoppers Optimum (see below). Each of these have become Canadian household names. In 2000, after Imperial Tobacco had been taken over by BAT Industries (formerly British American Tobacco), Shoppers was sold to a consortium of institutional investors including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Bain Capital, Inc., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, CIBC Capital Partners, and Shoppers Drug Mart's senior management and pharmacist/owners. Since then, the chain has gone public through an initial public offering. Shortly after the 2000 takeover, Shoppers revamped its brand and created a new concept store with more space, a sleek and modern look, and a stronger focus on higher-margin cosmetic products. Typically the cosmetics section faces the entrance, with the pharmacy counter at the back and a large convenience foods section near the checkout counters. In most suburban areas, this new format takes the form of new or relocated Shoppers Drug Marts, typically stand-alone "big-box" locations as opposed to smaller mall or strip-mall locations. In 2004, Shoppers started carrying Apple iPods and accessories. They also carried digital cameras. Shoppers stopped carrying Apple iPods in 2006 after Apple announced they were unable to supply the demand. Shoppers Drug Mart Easypix Digital Centres now carry Sandisk MP3 players. On April 27 2007, Shoppers Drug Mart #1000 opened in Toronto, Ontario. In 2007, the chain has run in to some difficulty while trying to establish itself as a "Big Box" chain in urban neighbourhoods. Current plans to evict local residents and demolish the greater part of a funeral home has galvanized local opposition in the Greektown area of Toronto, who fear that a "Walmart" type store will threaten the fabric of the area. City Councillor Case Ootes and the local BIA council(Business Improvement Association)have come under particular criticism for the lack of consultation with local residents. [1] Shoppers Optimum CardThe Shoppers Optimum Card is a fidelity program that is exclusive to Shoppers Drug Mart and Home Health Care stores. Any customer can apply for one and can then collect points to eventually redeem them in exchange of a credit for almost anything in the store. A customer receives 10 points for every dollar spent at the store. This excludes the purchase of lottery, tobacco products, prescription items, any products containing codeine and Canada Post products. Optimum points can be earned on gift cards. CIBC offers a co-branded Visa card which offers Shoppers Optimum points as its reward program. Sometimes, Shoppers Drug Mart organizes special point events where customers receive 20 times the regular points when they spend a certain amount. In 2006, the company introduced Secret Point Events. Optimum Card holders receive in the mail a flyer announcing the secret event prior to the announced date. They bring that flyer in on the secret day to obtain 20 times the regular points. Only online registered card holders receive the flyer. Other drug stores copied Shoppers Drug Mart by adopting their own fidelity program. Shortly after Shoppers Drug Mart introduced the Optimum Card, Rexall PharmaPlus started accepting the Air Miles card. ControversyOn January 4 2006, Shoppers Drug Mart announced changes to the Optimum program. This restructuring increased the number of points required to reach each reward level and created a new $150 reward level. While the company emphasized the value added by the new reward level, many customers noted that main effect of the change was to devalue Optimum Points. For example, a customer previously needed to redeem 36,000 points to receive a $75 reward. In the current system, 40,000 points are required for the same reward. The new system effectively reduces the value of Optimum points in this scenario by 10%. Additionally upsetting to many customers is that the new system applies retroactively to points that customers had earned prior to January 2006. Financial dataFiscal 2004 system sales: $6.471 billion CAD Board of directors
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| This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Shoppers_Drug_Mart". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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