Elephant's concepts cater to clientele

Drug Store News,  Oct 6, 2003  by Michael Johnsen

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BERKELEY, Calif. -- Elephant Pharmacy, which opened here almost one year ago, is slowly filling into its big-box 13,000-square-foot frame, as evidenced by a steady increase in both foot traffic and prescription base.

And the chain has latched on to some retail excitement that fits well within the free-spirited Berkeley community--a burgeoning organic produce section supplied by area farmers and a health-focused classes.

"We're making a whole new retail concept, and it's really working," said Stuart Skorman, Elephant's founder and chief executive officer. "We've come a long way."

The produce section is located at one of Elephant's main entrances, just opposite the drug store's fresh flower selection. "It's already 10 percent of our volume--just in fruits and vegetables," Skorman said. "With the rest of the food [offerings], it's running 20 percent and growing. We're actually going to be a [drug] store that is going to sell more food as a percentage of our sables than probably prescriptions."

After 11 months in operation, Elephant is operating a 22:78 split between pharmacy and front end. Skorman hopes to build the pharmacy mix, to a level of 30 percent in the coming years. We're very front-end oriented, he said, but the goal still is to increase Elephant's current prescription base--which currently is reaching some 100 prescriptions per day--by three times in the next three years.

Elephant's approach to consumables mirrors that of Whole Foods, according to Skorman. The organic produce and its complement of natural foods target Elephant's upscale clientele. "Frozen TV dinners and beer ... don't work in these highly educated markets, he said.

Another prominent program that differentiates Elephant from a typical chain drug experience is its class offerings--the pharmacy hosts as many as 150 complementary classes per month on topics ranging from yoga and aromatherapy to women's health "It's a good way to build the brand and let our customer's know that we are different and more sensitive and caring than other [chain] pharmacies," Skorman said. As many as 1,000 people attend those classes each week, he added.

Elephant Pharmacy currently is test-marketing a fee-based class as part of its health education offerings. If it's successful, future classes not only will serve as a foot-traffic builder, but also as a profit center, Skorman said.

And the concept has taken off, judging by the number of people who walk into the store with a circular in hand. In addition to highlighting monthly specials on items from Claritin to Similisan's homeopathic hay fever relief, the chain's circular provides a day-by-day breakdown of that month's health-oriented classes. The chain distributes an average of 40,000 circulars each month.

This month, however, Elephant Pharmacy will be dispensing some 140,000 circulars with a special insert in the Sunday New York Times. We re talking about [reaching] people that are highly educated, and around here, that means people who read the Sunday New York Times."

Plans to open a second Elephant Pharmacy in early 2004 are still in play, Skorman said, in either New York, Boston, San Francisco or Los Angeles.

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