Pay Less on expansion tear

Drug Store News,  March 5, 1990  

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Pay Less on expansion tear

WILSONVILLE, Ore. - Pay Less Drug Stores opened its 298th store Feb. 10 in Oakley, Calif., and is set to hit the 300 mark March 16 with a new store in Clackamas, a Portland suburb.

The rapidly expanding chain plans to open a total of 40 stores and remodel 12 to its sleek new format this year, said Tim McAlear, executive vp and chief operations officer. That's compared with 32 openings and three total remodels in 1989. Pay Less has stores in nine Western states, with the largest concentrations in California, Oregon and Washington.

McAlear said expansion will focus on strengthening markets and going into smaller communities in states the chain already serves.

Pay Less also will continue its high-priority push to scanning, begun in 1986, with 80-90 conversions planned for 1990, following 85 scanner conversions in '89. The chain is targeting completion of scanning installations chainwide by spring of 1991, McAlear said.

It plans to start implementing a electronic data interchange (EDI) system later this year, he added.

The 31,000-square-foot (26,000 selling) Oakley store is situated in Contra Costa County, in an area where farming, a naval ship-repair station, a munitions depot and other industries are attracting young families and rapid growth in new housing. A "45" store (so called because the aisles radiate at 45-degree angles from the front entrances), the Oakley unit incorporates fine-tuning of Pay Less's year-old, service-oriented prototype.

The only changes in new stores and remodels since the new layout was unveiled have involved massaging the merchandise mix, McAlear told Drug Store News. The prototype is accomplishing the company's objectives, he said: It emphasizes core drug store departments and has "dramatically improved" pharmacy business and efficiecy. "Customer response has been overwhelmingly favorable."

Pay Less endorses positioning pharmacy near the front of the store, for customer convenience, and has enlarged pharmacists' work space and created a customer waiting area. In addition, pharmacy counters have been lowered and opened up, for a more "customer-friendly" environment.

The prototype comes in three sizes, with extensive apparel departments in the largest version, which includes the Oakley store.

At Oakley, scanners are positioned at front checkstands and in the pharmacy, camera and sporting goods departments. One of the eight front-end checkout lanes is wider to accommodate disabled customers.

The store format itself, with its angled aisles and the height of gondolas graduated upward to the back of the store, improves visibility of clerks to customers and vice-versa, improving service opportunities, he pointed out.

"We're trying to be as responsive as we can," McAlear said. Listening to customers, through focus groups, surveys, exit interviews, customer comment cards and the like, "has taught us an awful lot." He added that a committee including company officers studies such feedback on a monthly basis.

`Pro-Motion' hits the road

OAKLEY, Calif. - Pay Less Drug Stores is on the move with a unique new goodwill ambassador built like a truck. In fact, it is a truck - a tractor and 48-foot trailer on 18 wheels called "Pro-Motion."

The idea for Pro-Motion came to Pay Less truck driver Bob Swindler as he was driving down the road one day. He envisioned a specially-designed trailer that could act as a stage and, with its sides removed, as a float for parades.

"But that was only part of the concept," said Swindler, who was on hand with his versatile brainchild to help Pay Less open a new store here. "The rest was to give something back to communities that have given us so much over the years."

While he was talking, a four-piece band and singer were holding forth on Pro-Motion's stage in the shopping center parking lot. Their music, piped into the store added to the festivities.

The custom-made trailer is equipped with its own power generator, a complete sound and lighting system, a control booth and a dressing roomlounge fitted with a TV, VCR, CD player and refrigerator. Swindler and three other Pay Less truck drivers, plus two mechanics, operate the vehicle and all its features. The chain does not charge for Pro-Motion's services.

On the road

Since Pay Less took delivery in September, Pro-Motion has travelled up and down the West Coast, participating in numerous events in communities Pay Less serves. Its first gig was Antioch, Calif.'s Riverfront Jamboree, with the U.S. Navy Stage Band aboard. It was on hand for the Harvest Festival in Woodburn, Ore., and the Halloween parade in Barstow, Calif., was center stage for the Snow Flake Festival in Klamath Falls, Ore., and led the Christmas parade in Eureka, Calif.

Pro-Motion also helps open stores like the Oakley unit and can be used for public health screenings.

"The acceptance has been phenomenal," said Swindler, noting that the tractor hauls freight between bookings.