Q&A: Stuart Skorman, Elephant Pharmacy

Drug Store News, Dec 16, 2002

Elephant Pharmacy opened the doors to its flagship store late East month in Berkeley, Calif., combining natural health and traditional pharmacy in a large-box format.

Elephant's 13,000-square-foot store features a full-service herbal pharmacy directly adjacent to a prescription pharmacy. The store also offers an assortment of lifestyle products including toys, a one-hour photo lab, stationery, greeting cards, everyday household products, plants and flowers and gifts. And as an example of neighborhood marketing, the store will showcase organic flowers and a wide assortment of yoga and meditation products.

Stuart Skorman, chief executive officer, shared some first-day insights and shed some light on future plans.

Drug Store News: How did the first week go? Were there any surprises?

Skorman: Our first six customers were Walgreens managers, that was the most fun surprise. Obviously, [that is] a big compliment to them as a company because when they see something new, they send their people right out. We have three Walgreens [stores] within a mile, pretty much circling our store. Then we have a Longs Drug only one block away. If we're going to get business, that's where it's going to come from.

We have a lot to learn. We're investing in a new kind of store for a new kind of market. We're designing our whole corporate culture around our store managers. That gives each individual store a lot of flexibility to respond to the community.

Drug Store News: How did consumers respond to that natural health look in a 13,000-square-foot footprint?

Skorman: A lot of open mouths. A lot of gawking. [For example], we have more than 200 SKUs of natural soap in our store, and we'll have about 300 SKUs by the end of December. Our herbal pharmacy and our prescription pharmacy are both under the same roof. [Customers are blown a way by the variety [in the store]. And they're blown away by the customer service. We have a great crew of people in there, and they're working very hard to give each customer a lot of attention.

Drug Store News: How many employees are staffing the first Elephant Pharamacy?

Skorman: There's about 20 full-time and about 20 part-time. We can have as many as 23 people in one shift.

Drug Store News: As you begin planning your next store opening, is there anything you would do differently?

Skorman: I'd say about five things! Our customers are in the store now--remember, we built this whole concept over a period of 11 months without any customers--so now we're learning so much. We think our food section might be a little bit too big [it's about 1,000 square feet]. We think our cosmetics section might be a little bit too small [approximately 700 square feet]. We're having our first meeting in terms of being able to rethink some of our departments.

Drug Store News: What are your plans for expanding?

Skorman: Well, we're looking to not open any stores for about nine months, so we can build a good foundation organizationally. Then, we're looking to get rap idly to the point where we're opening one store per month. By t en of 2003, we should have maybe four stores. In 2004, we should be adding 15 to 20 stores. You'll see the growth picking up steam as time goes on.

Drug Store News: Geographically speaking, where are most of tour stores going to be located? Will you target the West Coast initially or urban centers nationwide?

Skorman: We'll be a little more dispersed because we have certain markets we want to go after that are such good markets for us. On the East Coast, our two best [potential] markets are New York and Boston, and on the West Coast, our two best [potential] markets are San Francisco and Los Angeles. There are also other cities, like Washington and Chicago, that are strong [location candidates], as well.