Hi-School blends formats, products, sites in innovative combinations

Drug Store News, April 26, 1999 by Allene Symons

Changes in Hi-School's merchandise assortment in 1998 included adding more nutritional products and more one-hour photo labs. Hi-School also has a few Eastman Kodak Picture Maker units, which make prints and enlargements from originals.

On another growth area for the chain drug channel--convenience food and beverages-- Oliva said, "We've done some expansion, also some contractions when we weren't getting proper turns. We enlarged some and downsized some, depending on what POS tells us."

When it comes to marketing the Hi-School Pharmacy name, the chain uses a line-drawing style of a color circular to differentiate its message from the photographic style of competitors' circulars. Oliva also said he is looking into e-commerce opportunities. That figures-Oliva scouts for space, so why not cyberspace? For a regional operator such as this chain, especially in a market that's becoming over-stored, "You have to continue to grow. And you have to be willing to change your mix."

Hi-School Pharmacy

Headquarters: Vancouver, Wash.

1998 sales: $129 million

% change vs. 1997: 3 percent

No. of units: [35.sup.*]

Average store size: 18,000 to 20,000 square feet

Pharmacy sales: $65 million

% of sales from pharmacy: 50 percent