Rite Aid Ramping Up Wellness Efforts

Recently in my Sunday paper, I came across a sales flyer from Rite Aid, something honestly I would have put directly into the recycle bin without even glancing at it as I consider myself a CVS gal, but the large red banner reading  “Welcome to Wellness” caught my eye. As Grocery Headquarters Magazine’s Selling Wellness writer I am always looking for retail news about wellness trends, even if it is in the drug channel. From what I can tell, it appears Rite Aid, a chain often dwarfed in the media by Walgreen’s and CVS, has revamped its wellness efforts, including adding a host of new products and services to their lineup. Calling itself  “Your New Destination for Wellness,” part of this new program includes Wellness Saturdays, in which select stores are offering free health screenings such as bone density, cholesterol and glucose checks as well as diabetes risk assessments. But perhaps what’s more interesting is that Rite Aid is additionally offering less commonly seen health assessments including body composition evaluations, facial skin screenings, COPD testing and memory impairment exams. The flyer also noted gluten-free and organic foods would be sampled on Wellness Saturdays. On the back page of the circular was a list of six icons that Rite Aid will presumably be using throughout the store to help make consumers aware of the wellness products and services it now offers. It is here that they also boldly defined what the terms gluten-free and natural mean to them. Even more impressing it seems that in certain locations Rite Aid plans to have wellness ambassadors on hand who can provide shoppers with information on OTC products and even help design a personal vitamin regimen. Nice move Rite Aid! This is an exciting development in store level wellness education and long overdue, both for the chain and the industry. And sorry CVS, since there’s nothing better than shopping with a retailer who gets my needs, and me, after reading about this new program I think I’ll be taking my wellness business to Rite Aid.