Convenience, Value, Service

Good ole CVS. The place where I know that I’ll always have a plentiful supply of deodorant and toothpaste in stock. The store that has everything you need, but nothing you’re looking for. So what does CVS stand for anyway? I’ve never really stopped to ponder that.

CVS… was initially Consumer Value Stores… CEO Tom Ryan has said he now considers “CVS” to stand for “Convenience, Value, and Service.” Thanks Wikipedia!

Anywho, the store that I staked out was the CVS in Reno, NV. Depending on the time of day, the store was relatively quiet. This particular store was open and inviting, placing the cosmetics section as soon as you walk in and the food in the furthest back corner. This is well done since most of the time I go to CVS for toothpaste instead of macaroni and cheese.

During my stake out, I noticed that the majority of the people were booking it to the pharmacy. Most of those people were picking up meds as opposed to placing a prescription order. Looking at the picture (dotted line), you can see the direction that people take when going to the pharmacy; it’s not really a straight line.

While I was creepily watching people’s movements, I found myself thinking about why do I always choose CVS? What about Rite-Aid or Walgreens? It’s not that I have anything against those stores, it’s just that CVS is always close to me. Is that the secret? That’s for another time, another blog.

As far as the experience I saw with others, there is usually (>90% of the time) a wait for the walk-ins picking up their medications — even if it was just one person in line. They have 4 pharmacists working, 2 working hard doing something, and 2 who seem to be in charge. It appeared that the ones in charge don’t do the check out, so it only leaves the other 2 people to handle all the customers. The ranking order for helping customers in the pharmacy department is: phone, drive-thru, walk-ins.

All customers are equally important no matter where they are at in the pharmacy; phone, drive-thru, walk-ins. Luckily the pharmacy is the only place that has this issue in the store. Going in to buy my macaroni and cheese is a far more delightful experience since it’s quick and convenient. The is the way it should be… remember what the C stands for in CVS?

The CVS that I go to is not a busy location and I can only imagine what it’s like with more trafficked stores.