STORES Magazine - August 2008 - (Page 38)

20 16 5 ing store counts for a couple of years, with the resultant sales increases up in this year’s figures. With CVS Caremark resting at the top of the chart and Rite Aid commanding the runner-up position, it is not surprising that drug chains constitute the hottest retail segment among companies on the Hot 100 chart, sporting a gaudy 42 percent year-over-year volume increase. Last year was the first full year of operation for the combination of drug retailer CVS and prescription benefits manager Caremark Rx: Their joint revenues of more than $76 billion were 74.2 percent above the $43.8 billion CVS generated in 2006. Rite Aid’s revenue boost came from its purchase of the Brooks Pharmacy units in New England and Eckerd drug stores along the East Coast that had once been part of Canadian Jean Coutu Group’s ill-fated experiment doing business south of the border. It is only this summer that Rite Aid is wrapping up the conversion and integration of those stores into its coast-to-coast network. Walgreen is beginning to slow its three-stores-every-twodays expansion pace, abetted by some selective acquisitions of specialty pharmacies. Convenience store heat anking behind drug stores as the second-hottest group of retailers is a quartet of fuel, food and convenience merchandise merchants in the quick- R stop/c-store segment SIZZLING SEGMENT with an average revenue increase of 21 Quick Stops/C-Stores 21.1% TravelCenters of America 28.9 percent. The four in- Susser Holdings 20.0 clude TravelCenters of Casey’s General Stores 20.0 America, the truck The Pantry 15.9 stop/travel center and restaurant operator spun-off by a group of private equity investors early last year; Susser Holdings, which once operated under the Circle K banner before renaming and launching the Stripes convenience store chain in 2006 and buying Town & Country Food Stores last year; Casey’s General Stores; and The Pantry, the latter two having made a practice of buying small operators to either in-fill or grow the perimeters of their operating territories. Holding down the third position on the Hot 100 list is IHOP, one of three restaurant companies in the top 10. IHOP startled industry observers last summer when it announced its intentions to acquire Applebee’s, the nation’s largest full-service dining chain by number of locations. Though IHOP built its name and reputation running pancake restaurants, it has spent the last five years transforming itself from an operator to a franchisor of restaurants and is now nearly 99 percent franchised. Top 100 Most of Applebee’s units were company retailers owned and operated; it began changing that in the Hot 100 shortly after consummating its takeover last No- 30 H4 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - August 2008

STORES Magazine - August 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page The Lure of Free Shipping Walmart’s New Look What Shoppers Think Will Widgets Work for Wheat Bread and Wasabi? 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Store Design Industry Economics Hot 100 Retailers Concept2Watch Mobile Technology Small Store Technology Website Optimization Site Selection Mobile Payments Recycling Merchandising: Cool Sells Merchandising: Merchandising in Mexico Store Construction & Development Human Resources Loyalty Programs Mobile Marketing Loeb Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - August 2008

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