New CVS: Big "wow"
yahooyahoo said:
There are now two CVS stores and four Walgreen stores less than 2 miles from my house. I don't see all of these staying in business. Any bets on which will close?
They have replaced churches.
The new CVS is close to our house, so was looking forward to convenience and somewhat less blight. Haven't been there yet, but one thing does bug me: that hideous guard rail along the sidewalk on Valley.
I can't believe this was permitted by town planners.
I am not denying that CVS does what Walgreen's does for prescription refills, I am saying CVS is not new or unique in this regard.
JCSO said:
The new CVS is close to our house, so was looking forward to convenience and somewhat less blight. Haven't been there yet, but one thing does bug me: that hideous guard rail along the sidewalk on Valley.
I can't believe this was permitted by town planners.
There is a thread about that fence.
https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/id/117924-Chain-link-fence-at-Valley-and-Tuscan.
It's a county road and apparently the county did it.
sac said:
JCSO said:There is a thread about that fence.
The new CVS is close to our house, so was looking forward to convenience and somewhat less blight. Haven't been there yet, but one thing does bug me: that hideous guard rail along the sidewalk on Valley.
I can't believe this was permitted by town planners.
https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/id/117924-Chain-link-fence-at-Valley-and-Tuscan.
It's a county road and apparently the county did it.
Well that's just depressing as hell. Did Joey D put one of those up around the Turtleback Zoo?
ETA: Actually, sac, that's not the fence I'm talking about. I am referring to the guard rail attached to the wall in front of the new CVS.
JCSO said:
The new CVS is close to our house, so was looking forward to convenience and somewhat less blight. Haven't been there yet, but one thing does bug me: that hideous guard rail along the sidewalk on Valley.
I can't believe this was permitted by town planners.
There was a reason for it that I can't now recall... the TC minutes may have something on it, but I'll be damned know when it was.
ETA: So yes, I know, that was helpful.
The store is quite nice, identical to the new stores recently opened in WO and Livingston. The site's topography presented a challenge modern retail designers rarely deal with in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Went in two weeks ago after they just opened to pick up cards, and had an interesting experience. I have far too particular taste in cards, preferring Hallmark's Shoebox line. Looking for a bday card for my brother, I found no Shoebox for anything but Father's Day. I did see a full stock of Mahogany, which if anyone doesn't know is their line marketed to African Americans.
Asking the manager about it, he told me they wouldn't be carrying Shoebox except for holidays. CVS corporate has clearly made a decision about the ethnic makeup of our towns, as every nearby CVS carries both lines. They've also assumed that only whites like the Shoebox cards.
I'm aware this is reading a ridiculous amount into something trivial, but I really was left with the impression that white shoppers weren't expected to patronize this location in the same number as existing area stores. Feel free to criticize my silliness if this strikes you as farfetched. But since cards are one my most frequent CVS purchases, this makes me less inclined to shop there.
dk50b said:
The store is quite nice, identical to the new stores recently opened in WO and Livingston. The site's topography presented a challenge modern retail designers rarely deal with in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Went in two weeks ago after they just opened to pick up cards, and had an interesting experience. I have far too particular taste in cards, preferring Hallmark's Shoebox line. Looking for a bday card for my brother, I found no Shoebox for anything but Father's Day. I did see a full stock of Mahogany, which if anyone doesn't know is their line marketed to African Americans.
Asking the manager about it, he told me they wouldn't be carrying Shoebox except for holidays. CVS corporate has clearly made a decision about the ethnic makeup of our towns, as every nearby CVS carries both lines. They've also assumed that only whites like the Shoebox cards.
I'm aware this is reading a ridiculous amount into something trivial, but I really was left with the impression that white shoppers weren't expected to patronize this location in the same number as existing area stores. Feel free to criticize my silliness if this strikes you as farfetched. But since cards are one my most frequent CVS purchases, this makes me less inclined to shop there.
Someone needs to enlighten CVS planners about our demographics
Wikipedia for Maplewood:
56.27% (13,430) White
35.30% (8,426) Black or African American
6.68% (1,595) Hispanics or Latinos of any race
3.36% (802) from two or more races.
3.04% (725) Asian,
1.82% (434) from other races
0.18% (44) Native American
0.03% Pacific Islander
I realize the hoping for the Minute Clinic discussion has passed, but I see no evidence we'll get one there. First, I didn't notice a space where it could go. Second, CVS isn't hiring for one in Maplewood.
My guess is what you see is what you get.
My crank with CVS is their membership in Koch Brothers funded A.L.E.C. ALEC is against what most liberal Maplewood people support. For example, are you for gun regulation? Well ALEC (and Christie) are against gun control.
Like fracking? so does ALEC.
GMOs? ALEC says they taste better.
I wouldn't be considering switching from Target if not for their recent announcement that they are outsourcing their pharmacy ops to none other than CVS.
killing off mom and pop businesses one at a time. theres like 5 different CVS/Rite-AId and/or Walgreens within a 7 mile radius. why? ???
they arent just killing mom and pop drug stores because they sell food, toys, and pretty much everything else. . americans are so easily brainwashed by convenience. i cant believe people on this board are praising a big box chain and asking people to "patronize them"!!! is this what its come to?
CVS is worth 60 BILLION dollars,and most of it came at the cost of decent hard working family run businesses. . so just give them your money as well i guess... because eventually all we will have in this country are CVS/Walgreens/Target/Wal-mart/Home Depot/McDonalds ....
arturosfan said:
killing off mom and pop businesses one at a time. theres like 5 different CVS/Rite-AId and/or Walgreens within a 7 mile radius. why? ???
they arent just killing mom and pop drug stores because they sell food, toys, and pretty much everything else. . americans are so easily brainwashed by convenience. i cant believe people on this board are praising a big box chain and asking people to "patronize them"!!! is this what its come to?
CVS is worth 60 BILLION dollars,and most of it came at the cost of decent hard working family run businesses. . so just give them your money as well i guess... because eventually all we will have in this country are CVS/Walgreens/Target/Wal-mart/Home Depot/McDonalds ....
Have you been in a "mom and pop" drug store lately?
The hallmark card selection likely has less to do with race and more to do with offering less of a hallmark selection that makes x$ per sq foot in favor of another category of products elsewhere in the store that makes xx$ per sq foot.
After "dads and grads" there really aren't any large scale card giving holidays until Halloween and even that is a reach. Save shoebox and other lower cost skus for holidays, fill the section with slightly more expensive cards with larger margins, save some space for specialty lines like "Mahogany" and "Tree of Life". Use the 6ft space normally occupied by shoebox cards that have razor thin margins for something more high dollar like $19 bottles of liquid Tide or as seen on TV crap.
CVS and Walgreens are both good for tweaking sku selections in new stores.
ctrzaska said:
JCSO said:There was a reason for it that I can't now recall... the TC minutes may have something on it, but I'll be damned know when it was.
The new CVS is close to our house, so was looking forward to convenience and somewhat less blight. Haven't been there yet, but one thing does bug me: that hideous guard rail along the sidewalk on Valley.
I can't believe this was permitted by town planners.
ETA: So yes, I know, that was helpful.
OK, so it bothered me enough that I dug it up. Boring conf calls help. Jan 14 PB meeting. Rail cured a safety issue to prevent cars from entering parking lot from Valley... standard fencing wouldn't cure it and highway-style 3-rail aluminum would look worse. Seems as if it was to be landscaped though.
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
My crank with CVS is their membership in Koch Brothers funded A.L.E.C. ALEC is against what most liberal Maplewood people support. For example, are you for gun regulation? Well ALEC (and Christie) are against gun control.
Like fracking? so does ALEC.
GMOs? ALEC says they taste better.
It's OK to shop there, I guess, as CVS and a bunch of other Fortune 500s left ALEC in 2012 over their sponsorship of stand your ground laws that led to the Trayvon Martin shooting. Interesting how it takes a tragedy to wake people up to the consequences of what they support. I'm of course comparing this to the sudden realization of what the Confederate flag represents. And by people I also mean corporations, who are people too.
http://www.ibtimes.com/hp-deere-cvs-millercoors-bestbuy-exit-controversial-alec-post-trayvon-martin-shooting-722024
http://www.rifuture.org/cvs-drops-out-of-alec.html
And Freeway, if profit margins's the sole motive, why is this the only area CVS not carrying Shoebox? They all have room for all three lines you mention, some in smaller stores. If the selection changes elsewhere then I'll agree it's money, not racial misperception.
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
My crank with CVS is their membership in Koch Brothers funded A.L.E.C. ALEC is against what most liberal Maplewood people support. For example, are you for gun regulation? Well ALEC (and Christie) are against gun control.
Like fracking? so does ALEC.
GMOs? ALEC says they taste better.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gm-tomato-tastes-better/
dk50b said:
Formerlyjerseyjack said:It's OK to shop there, I guess, as CVS and a bunch of other Fortune 500s left ALEC in 2012 over their sponsorship of stand your ground laws that led to the Trayvon Martin shooting. Interesting how it takes a tragedy to wake people up to the consequences of what they support. I'm of course comparing this to the sudden realization of what the Confederate flag represents. And by people I also mean corporations, who are people too.
My crank with CVS is their membership in Koch Brothers funded A.L.E.C. ALEC is against what most liberal Maplewood people support. For example, are you for gun regulation? Well ALEC (and Christie) are against gun control.
Like fracking? so does ALEC.
GMOs? ALEC says they taste better.
http://www.ibtimes.com/hp-deere-cvs-millercoors-bestbuy-exit-controversial-alec-post-trayvon-martin-shooting-722024
http://www.rifuture.org/cvs-drops-out-of-alec.html
And Freeway, if profit margins's the sole motive, why is this the only area CVS not carrying Shoebox? They all have room for all three lines you mention, some in smaller stores. If the selection changes elsewhere then I'll agree it's money, not racial misperception.
They stock lines other than Mahogany right? If they ONLY stocked Mahogany I might think "wow they don't think white people buy cards." Again its a NEW store and often times they will try out a new planogram or program or they might make a deal with Hallmark to hit certain purchase order numbers during key holidays in lieu of carrying all the lines at once. They happened to open during a part of the year when sales in that category fall off. Why carry 47 skus of the same card when atleast half of them won't make you a dime?
A CVS I did oversee the roll out of in Morris County tried a program where they carried a 12ft section of "Hispanic Specialty Products" . The town was about 87% white but people who got paid a lot more than I did assumed that close proximity to Dover , the second highest population of Columbians in NJ, would propel the sales. After a 6 month run the category was dropped entirely due to poor sales (the goya snack products did decent numbers but couldn't carry 12ft with 100s of non selling skus). Part of the section became seasonal and the other travel size items $$$$.
They usually only call me now when the want to do something crazy like convert existing competitors into "fast lane" stores (a limited program where the store has maybe 4 aisles of product and a drive through pharmacy, they haven't hit the east coast yet but its likely they will at some point). No cards, No makeup, No seasonal. Pretty much a 7-11 with a pharmacy, low sq footage HIGH markup.
Edited to add: Each CVS might have a slightly different selection of items, even stores in close proximity to each other.
If a lot of people go in and request Shoebox cards, they might start stocking them
Isn't south orange pharmacy a mom & pop? Or, at least, not a big box chain store
Woot said:
arturosfan said:Have you been in a "mom and pop" drug store lately?
killing off mom and pop businesses one at a time. theres like 5 different CVS/Rite-AId and/or Walgreens within a 7 mile radius. why? ???
they arent just killing mom and pop drug stores because they sell food, toys, and pretty much everything else. . americans are so easily brainwashed by convenience. i cant believe people on this board are praising a big box chain and asking people to "patronize them"!!! is this what its come to?
CVS is worth 60 BILLION dollars,and most of it came at the cost of decent hard working family run businesses. . so just give them your money as well i guess... because eventually all we will have in this country are CVS/Walgreens/Target/Wal-mart/Home Depot/McDonalds ....
I am pretty sure they are a mom and pop. They are certainly small and local.
But their hours are 9-6 daily and closed Sunday. That's not just inconvenient. It's downright impossible for so many people I know
South Orange Pharmacy is part of a two or three store group, and is a lovely independent pharmacy, with limited hours, but also free delivery.
I gave them as much of my business as I could for years - the part that didn't have to go mail order to get best pricing. But then our plan switched to Caremark, which is owned by CVS. So I can get mail order rates by filling our scrips at CVS, which is too big a convenience to ignore.
I've actually bought Mahogany cards for white recipients... a lot of times I'm not actually sure what makes them "African American" cards.
Tom_Reingold said:
yahooyahoo said:They have replaced churches.
There are now two CVS stores and four Walgreen stores less than 2 miles from my house. I don't see all of these staying in business. Any bets on which will close?
This made me laugh out loud. Every day, the baby boomers are getting older, and probably in need of more and more prescriptions...
I like CVS because of their rewards program. I have their store card, and they're constantly pushing coupons at me. Seems like every time I'm in the store I'm getting $3 off this or 30% off that...
What did everyone do before cvs and Walgreens? seems like we got by just fine. The cvs thing is part of a much larger problem. It's frightening to think that slowly we are turning into a corporation and not a country. Look at Maplewood town center. Empty storefronts. Look anywhere actually. Empty storefronts everywhere. This is because of the cvs mentality. "Since I'm in cvs picking up my gluten allergy medication I might as well pick up some Peanut butter and water and - wow they sell underwear As well!!"
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I didn't even realize it was open. Once people catch on I'm sure it will be busier. I wonder if their photo printing will be decent? That would be nice and convenient, I have not been thrilled with the quality at Millburn Walgreen's.