I wanted to pose a few questions concerning the Walgreens of today. I wanted to start with a little history (not to date myself). When I was growing up I met a woman who worked at Walgreens for 50 years. She seemed relatively happy in her position there. She began when the Walgreens I shopped at now had a soda fountain. I, honestly, could not imagine such a thing as I walked through the carbon copy rows of items trying to deduce where the soda fountain counter could have possibly been before. The stores seemed to have gone through a few transformations over the years. They have gone from renting within the community to buying land & building their own units. They have gone from selling alcohol to banning the selling of alcohol to reinstating the selling of alcohol. They have gone from clipping coupons to clipping coupons & signing up for a Balance Rewards card. I have always felt like I shopped there out of sheer convenience. Meaning if I needed bread quickly I could walk there as opposed to saving 60 cents but having to travel further. I recall using their pharmacy far more often than I do now because of pricing. I remember seeing the same faces over & over again. These same faces who knew where things were & how to quickly find them while maintaining an entertaining conversation. Today, it seems, the revolving door of employees syndrome within companies has greatly hurt that positive aspect Walgreens had going for it. Of course, I am not trying to make it seem as though this is the ONLY company that this has happened to I was just shopping there recently & the question presented itself: Did anyone else find themselves using Walgreens far more ten or five years ago than they do today? If so, why do you think that is? Do you feel the Balance Rewards programs is a positive? What would you do to improve your experience when shopping there or anywhere else?
I am not certain of having a Walgreens more than 5 years ago. So I will comment on it today. I do prefer Walgreens over the other chain pharmacies since I find a lot of general merchandise and the hours make it a convenience for some of these items. I find them to be competitive price wise (or less) of comparable chains. I have been using the Rewards program, but I do not see it as cost savings as some of the rewards at say, grocery stores. Not knowing Walgreens in its glory days, I wouldn't change it in light of say CVS or right aid. Would love to see a soda fountain at any of them as I enjoy nostalgia.
Ha! That is exactly how I felt as I shopped & musingly searched for the area they would have had it in the first place. Honestly, how much would it really be to get that done? I cannot imagine having a soda fountain putting Walgreens in the red. Fantastic idea for now. Make the place a go to family spot instead of a stop & shop.
