Elephant Pharmacy Aims to Satisfy Frustrated Consumers With a New Approach to Service and Selection; Founders Vow to Revolutionize Pharmacy Shopping With Flagship Store

Business Wire,  Nov 14, 2002  

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Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2002

Elephant Pharmacy, a groundbreaking retail concept that features a full-service herbal pharmacy along side a world-class prescription pharmacy under one roof, will open its doors in Berkeley later this month.

The store also includes unbiased product information that has been uniquely designed to support the shopping experience. This retail concept was created to satisfy frustrated Baby Boomers and others concerned about healthy choices.

Elephant Pharmacy is the brainchild of aging Baby Boomer and retail pioneer Stuart Skorman, who is best known in the Bay Area as founder and CEO of video business Reel.com. Twenty years ago Skorman helped invent the natural foods supermarket while working for Elephant co-founder Anthony Harnett at Bread & Circus in New England, a chain later acquired by Whole Foods Market.

Both Elephant Pharmacy's prescription and herbal pharmacies will offer unprecedented selection and services. Elephant Pharmacy's 13,000 square foot store also will offer a vast assortment of lifestyle products including toys, one-hour photo lab, stationery, greeting cards, everyday household products, plants and flowers, and gifts. In addition, the store's inventory is highly customized to meet the tastes, values and needs of the Berkeley community. For example, the store features organic flowers and a wide assortment of yoga and meditation products. Future stores will be adapted to their communities.

To complement the unprecedented product selection, Elephant Pharmacy's editors, writers, pharmacists, and herbalists have created a store with abundant, helpful, and pointedly truthful product information to help customers make better choices even if the choice is to purchase nothing. In addition, all in-store information is proprietary and reviewed by the Elephant Pharmacy Medical Advisory Board, which has total editorial freedom and consists of some of the area's best doctors.

"Elephant Pharmacy's goal is to provide unbiased information to customers as they make increasingly complex decisions regarding their health," said Charles E. McLaughlin, M.D., member of the Medical Advisory Board. "All of the in-store information is original, based on the most recent medical research, and it is reviewed by myself or one of the other members of the board." Dr. McLaughlin is on the faculty of UC Berkeley and UCSF's School of Medicine, and has a private practice in family and sports medicine.

"We are creating a store that will combine worldwide selection with caring, intelligent customer service," said Skorman. "We've worked hard to create a store that addresses the needs of people who care about staying healthy but don't trust the biased information so often found in other stores."

The following are some of the in-store amenities that will make Elephant different, and better, than any other drug store:

-- A general health area that offers the East Bay's largest selection of complementary remedies along side of the over-the-counter medicines one expects to see in large, modern retail pharmacies. Products are grouped according to health conditions, such as cold and flu, digestion, and pain relief, to provide customers with a full range of options.

-- A prescription pharmacy staffed by pharmacists who love to interact with customers. Elephant Pharmacy feels strongly that a pharmacist should come out from behind the glass window to interact with customers and answer questions. (Pharmacists can also answer questions in a private consultation room.)

-- An herbal pharmacy that features the region's best selection of quality herbs, roots, and other medicinals in bulk, including top quality organic and wild crafted products. A credentialed herbalist will be on duty eight hours every day.

-- The region's largest selection of vitamins, minerals, and additional supplements and natural remedies.

-- A resource room dedicated to customer education that is staffed every afternoon by registered nurses, nutritionists, and other specialists who will give free advice. Each morning, Elephant will offer two free classes on everything from treating the common cold to relieving stress.

-- In addition to some of Berkeley's best doctors, the Elephant Pharmacy Medical Advisory Board includes several nationally recognized health professionals who will help set policy.

-- A huge selection of all natural cosmetics and a sit-down demonstration counter with product sampling opportunities, as well as knowledgeable staff on duty to answer questions and provide natural cosmetic makeovers.

-- A high-quality, state-of-the-art, one-hour photo lab. Elephant Pharmacy will pay back customers double the price paid if they are not happy with their photos.

-- A greeting card and gift-wrap section featuring one of the most extensive selections of greeting cards available in the East Bay.

-- A huge selection of flowers and plants including cut and organic flowers, floral arrangements, and herb garden kits.

-- A gift area featuring a wide variety of seasonal gifts, gift baskets, and products that inspire relaxation, exercise, and clear thinking.