College students 'big game' for N.C. drug chains

Drug Store News, Feb 20, 1989

College students 'big game' for N. C. drug chains

The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina is truly a golden triangle for drug store operators.

With the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, Duke University and North Carolina Central at Durham, and State University of North Carolina and at least seven other colleges at Raleigh, the total student population is more than 76,000 strong. An added advantage for drug stores is that the big three - North Carolina State, UNC and Duke - draw a large portion of out-of-state students, who can't go home that often to replenish such daily necessities as toothpaste, contact lens solution, shampoo and notebooks. Moreover, off-campus students and collegiates with cars enable store locations farther from campus to cash in on student trade.

Bill Rhyne, manager of the Kerr Drug Store in Cameron Village shopping center, about four blocks from North Carolina State in Raleigh, stresses service and "having the right merchandise at the right time" to pull students. He hires many students on a part-time basis, and by talking to them and other employees, he keeps on top of what's hot to stock in large quantities, like clear mascara, which was the rage before Christmas. (Part-time student employees, incidentally, prefer to work nights and weekends, less desirable times among full-time workers.)

The 12,500-square-foot store devotes about 16 feet to college-theme items, ranging from T-shirts and baby bibs to license tags and glassware, with the university's logo.

He's found that students like trial-size items, especially for beach use. From March 1 (before spring break) to September, center-store endcaps feature things like tennis balls and toothbrush and soap holders. Because of year-round moderate weather, beach chairs, suntan lotion, sunglasses and habachis, along with charcoal and lighting fluid, do a steady business.

Students also love beverages and snacks, so the store constantly promotes 16-ounce nonreturnable Coke and Pepsi at a hot price, three for $1.00, and its snack-food section spans 36 feet.

Most frequented sections

But the department most frequented by students is probably school supplies, Rhyne said, with major back-to-school promotions in the fall and January.

Other strong sections include family planning/ personal hygiene (Rhyne said home pregnancy test kits are a growing segment); contact lens care; small electronics such as calculators, watches and clocks, radios and lamps; hardware; and automotive accessories. Housewares, especially hangers, vacuum bags, irons and ironing boards, clothespins and clotheslines, do a brisk business with students, as do pegged items like corkscrews, can opener and pizza cutters.

Even though the university has an infirmary that dispenses medications, the store's pharmacy does a sizeable student business, with birth control pills definitely the leading script among coeds. Pharmacist Rebecca Wheeler said one advantage is Kerr's formulary, which is more extensive than the infirmary's. Another is Kerr's store hours, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week and noon to 7 p.m. Sundays; infirmary pharmacy hours are more limited. Wheeler added that her pharmacy serves as an information source for students, who ask about birth control pills, menstrual irregularities and how to treat certain symptoms.

Kerr advertises in local daily newspapers, but not in the universities' newspapers. However, the Kerr store near UNC in Chapel Hill does advertise in the university's student/faculty directory, which has been effective.

The four-store Drug Emporium franchise in the triangle, on the other hand, has just decided to advertise in the big three universities' newspapers. Steve Hall, director of marketing and promotions for the franchise, Volunteer Drug Inc., said a primary reason is a significant difference in rates for advertising in school papers versus the major dailies, although the franchise advertises there as well: To run 11 full-page ads in NCU's newspaper, The Daily Tarheel, for example, would cost roughly $9,600, compared with approximately $66,000 for a similar amount in the local daily.

Plus, "it's a chance to reach 60,000 people" at UNC, Carolina State and Duke combined. Moreover, the school papers are also read by faculty and staff, which represent significant disposable income.

And deep discounters are especially attractive to students, who are often on fixed incomes and looking for value, he said.

The fact that the franchise started accepting Master Card and Visa the last week in January will provide a natural peg for Drug Emporium's advertising debut in school papers, he added.