A determined Walgreens touts bold plans for '03

Drug Store News, Jan 20, 2003 by James Frederick

"We kill ourselves to make that shopping trip quick and convenient," added Bernauer. From the time a customer pulls into a parking space to when she walks out th door ... the average time is 10 minutes. And without a prescription, it's just about eight minutes.

That number is scheduled to nearly double over the next five years, Bernauer added.

"That's our attraction--quick minutes and long (operating) hours," he told shareholders. "With 900 24-hour pharmacies, we have more than all of our competitors combined. And almost 2,900 of our stores have drivethrough pharmacies."

Besides new efforts in store construction, customer service and marketing. Walgreens is also still spending big sums on technology enhancements and a new generation of highly automated distribution centers. The chain has launched "a major initiative that should increase our distribution efficiency by 40 percent," said Bernauer, and has opened two new distribution centers in Jupiter, Fla., and Dallas. Two more technology driven DCs, he said, are in the works in Ohio and California.