Favorite products at Walgreens/Rite-Aid/CVS, etc.

[thefadedone]

That will be interesting if it catches on. All my local Rite Aid stores had "make overs" that included a section dedicated to orgainic, vegetarain, vegan , GF, and natural foods. Most of the items I can find for half the price at other stores, but it's still cool to know that they are there if I had no other choice.

 

[Amy SF]

Walgreens Gets A Makeover As It Tries To Win Back Customers
Posted: 07/01/2013 4:16 pm EDT | Updated: 07/01/2013 7:06 pm EDT

In the face of large, aggressively expanding discount chains and low-price online stores, Walgreens is shifting its image, store design and product assortment in order to stay competitive.

Graham Atkinson, senior vice president and chief marketing and customer experience officer at Walgreen, wants to change the way customers think of the chain while remaining grounded in “health and wellness” -- something that dollar stores, Walmart and Amazon can’t offer. “When I think of Walgreens, I think of health. When I think Amazon, I don’t think of health,” Atkinson said in an interview. “That is the anchor.”

The front of Walgreens stores will be changing “fairly dramatically” to promote health-related items over convenience products. That means a renewed focus on the pharmacy, immunizations, clinics, vitamins, beauty products, skincare and more, reflected both through the items offered in stores and the training of staff.

Entire Article Here

The Walgreens closest to me is a lot smaller than the CVS Pharmacy and the two Rite-Aids closest to me. But it has a nice vibe, the staff are pleasant and helpful, and I've had positive experiences there. They can overhaul the store if they want, but hopefully retain the nice vibe I get there.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

I used to go to the Walgreens pharmacy but stopped a few years ago. The waits for drop-off prescriptions were ridiculous. I tried their call-in refills, and would get texts that my order was ready but then when I got there it wasn't. Once I was waiting (told them I was waiting) and after an hour and a half they still hadn't called my name so I asked, only to be told it had been ready 30 minutes earlier. The lines were too long and slow moving (and I always ended up behind someone buying half the store and insisting on checking everything out at the pharmacy so everyone else had even longer waits). The people working in the pharmacy were gruff with me on more than one occasion. (Not that I blame them, but still not pleasant.)

Now I go to Target pharmacy. The main people know me, are always friendly, and often have drop-off prescriptions ready in 15 minutes.

 

[Amy SF]

I used to go to the Walgreens pharmacy but stopped a few years ago. The waits for drop-off prescriptions were ridiculous. I tried their call-in refills, and would get texts that my order was ready but then when I got there it wasn't. Once I was waiting (told them I was waiting) and after an hour and a half they still hadn't called my name so I asked, only to be told it had been ready 30 minutes earlier. The lines were too long and slow moving (and I always ended up behind someone buying half the store and insisting on checking everything out at the pharmacy so everyone else had even longer waits). The people working in the pharmacy were gruff with me on more than one occasion. (Not that I blame them, but still not pleasant.)

Now I go to Target pharmacy. The main people know me, are always friendly, and often have drop-off prescriptions ready in 15 minutes.

That's awful. I've never had that kind of problem at Walgreens. But I don't use their pharmacy regularly.

I do use Target regularly and have the same positive experience you do. I use Target for their low prices. They're a lot less convenient than Walgreens because they're further away, but I like that they're open on Sundays and I can do a little shopping while I'm there, cuz Target naturally has a lot more stuff than Walgreens.

 

[thefadedone]

Oh how exciting! I will be looking forward to seeing the new changes. I've noticed that they have revamped their store brand packaging the past couple months. I love Walgreens. I am fortunate to have a good store with helpful friendly employees. My store has a drive thru pharmacy that is very convenient. The only issue I've ever had was that they didn't carry a certain pill I had a script for. Other than that my pharmacy experiences with them have been fast and reliable. I'm also lucky because there's never really a line at the pharmacy.

I'm a frequent Walgreens shopper. I think they have great deals when you stack their store coupons with manufacturer's coupons . Plus they have a Register Rewards system and a Balance Reward system that save me so much money. I shop there 1-2 a week and always make my first stop at their clearance section which is fantastic! They are also great at giving out rain checks or substituting other products if they are out of stock of something particular.

 

[Amy SF]

I wanted to post a good review of the Gold Emblem brand at CVS. This is a line of nuts and nut-based snacks. The nuts are always good when I get them, fresh-tasting, never stale or rancid. They do tend to be pricey, but if you're an ExtraCare rewards cardholder like I am, you can scan the card at the coupon kiosk and if you're lucky, like I was on Saturday, you'll get a coupon for any brand of nuts. And they do go on sale occasionally, too. On Saturday I had a coupon for 20% off my total when I use my EC card that came in the mail. The nuts were not discountable with the coupon because they were on sale, but I did have the coupon from the kiosk, and when they're not on sale, the 20% coupon helps.

They don't have a long list of ingredients, either. I'm holding a can of lightly salted mixed nuts, and this is the ingredients list: Blanched and unblanched peanuts, cashews, almonds, Brazil nuts, Filberts/hazelnuts, pecans, peanut and/or canola and/or cottonseed oil, sea salt. That's it.

 

[Amy SF]

Addendum on my post above about Gold Emblem: There is now a sub-brand of Gold Emblem called Abound which is a line of "healthy" snacks. There are such items as energy bars and bagged popcorn. I bought a bag of the popcorn on Friday, and it's not bad. It's called Heavenly Light Popcorn. Ingredients are white popcorn, vegetable oil and salt. The taste is plain, but there's no icky aftertaste, and it's a good-sized bag, too, at 5 oz.