Shoppers Drug Mart

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Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation

Type	Public
Founded	1962
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Key people	Glenn Murphy, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Jürgen Schreiber, President & Chief Operating Officer
Industry	Drugstore, Retail
Products	Drugs, Health
Operating income	$6.471 billion CAD
Net income	$636 million CAD
Website	Shoppers Drug Mart
Number of Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix stores: over 950 Number of Home Health Care stores: 51

Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation TSX: SC is Canada's largest pharmacy chain with almost 1000 stores operating under the names Shoppers Drug Mart across Canada (outside of Quebec) and Pharmaprix in Quebec.

1 Overview
2 History
3 Shoppers Optimum Card
4 Financials
5 Board of directors
6 Management
7 Advertising
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Overview

Shoppers Drug Marts are full-service pharmacies, located in prime locations in every province and two territories, and the chain claims to be the most convenient retail chain in Canada.

Core pharmacy services such as prescription dispensing and patient counselling are operated under the "HealthWatch" sub-brand. Most Shoppers locations also sell over-the-counter medications, health and beauty aids, cosmetics and fragrances – including several high-end "prestige" brands – and other everyday-use general merchandise. The chain's private labels are Life Brand, and Quo Cosmetics. As the company states, these high-end stores combine Health, Beauty and Convenience. Each large new format store include at least five food aisles, a healthy living section, a cosmetics centre, a Carlton Cards aisle, an Easypix digital centre/photolab and a full selection of over-the-counter drugs and health products. Some stores have a full service Canada Post Postal Centre.

[edit] History

At the age of twenty, Murray Koffler inherited two Koffler's Drugs pharmacies in suburban Toronto (one in the Don Mills Centre shopping mall). By 1962, Koffler's had grown to a chain of 17 pharmacies, which he renamed "Shoppers Drug Mart".

Koffler revamped the concept of the twentieth century “drug store” in Canada by removing the soda fountain and emphasizing the dispensary, requiring his pharmacists to wear starched white coats as a symbol of their professionalism. In the mid-1950s, he began acquiring other drug stores and organized them around a then-novel franchising concept: pharmacist “associates” would own and operate their own stores within the system and share in the profits; among the more notable drug store chains acquired by Shoppers Drug Mart under Koffler was the British Columbia-based Cunningham Drug Stores Ltd., which was absorbed into Shoppers in 1970. When Koffler retired in 1983, he sold the chain to Imasco, formerly Imperial Tobacco, at that time Canada's largest tobacco company.

Between 1983 and 2001, David Bloom was the CEO. His leadership prompted the creation of store-branded trademarks including HealthWatch, PharmExpert, Life Brand, Quo, Rialto and Shoppers Optimum (see below). Each of these have become Canadian household names.

In 2000, after Imperial Tobacco had been taken over by BAT Industries (formerly British American Tobacco), Shoppers was sold to a consortium of institutional investors including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Bain Capital, Inc., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, CIBC Capital Partners, and Shoppers Drug Mart's senior management and pharmacist/owners. Since then, the chain has gone public through an initial public offering.

Shortly after the 2000 takeover, Shoppers revamped its brand and created a new concept store with more space, a sleek and modern look, and a stronger focus on higher-margin cosmetic products. Typically the cosmetics section faces the entrance, with the pharmacy counter at the back and a large convenience foods section near the checkout counters. In most suburban areas, this new format takes the form of new or relocated Shoppers Drug Marts, typically stand-alone "big-box" locations as opposed to smaller mall or strip-mall locations. In 2004, Shoppers started carrying Apple iPods and accessories. They also carried digital cameras. Shoppers stopped carrying Apple iPods in 2006 after Apple announced they were unable to supply the demand. Shoppers Drug Mart Easypix Digital Centres now carry Sony MP3 players.

[edit] Shoppers Optimum Card

The Shoppers Optimum Card is a fidelity program that is exclusive to Shoppers Drug Mart and Home Health Care stores. Any customer can apply for one and can then collect points to eventually redeem them in exchange of a credit for anything in the store. A customer receives 10 points for every dollar spent at the store. This excludes the purchase of lottery, tobacco products, bus tickets and passes, prescription drugs and Canada Post products. Optimum points can be earned on gift cards. Sometimes, Shoppers Drug Mart organizes special point events where customers receive 20 times the regular points when they spend a certain amount. In 2006, the company introduced Secret Point Events. Optimum Card holders receive in the mail a flyer announcing the secret event prior to the announced date. They bring that flyer in on the secret day to obtain 20 times the regular points. Only online registered card holders receive the flyer. Other drug stores copied Shoppers Drug Mart by adopting their own fidelity program. Shortly after Shoppers Drug Mart introduced the Optimum Card, Rexall PharmaPlus started accepting the Air Miles card.

[edit] Financials

Fiscal 2004 system sales: $6.471 billion CAD
Fiscal 2004 EBITDA: $636 million CAD
Drug store sales per square foot: $1001 CAD
Number of Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix stores: 970
Number of Home Health Care stores: 49

[edit] Board of directors

Robert W. Burton, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation
Ashley Warren, Managing Director, Chetrum Capital, LLC
Joshua Bekenstein, Managing Director, Bain Capital Partners, LLC
Kim Davis, Managing Director, Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC
James H. Greene, Jr., Member, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co
Eva L. Kwok, Chair & Chief Executive Officer, Amara International Investment Corporation
Dean Metcalf, Vice-President, Teachers' Private Capital, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board
Paul E. Raether, Member, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Derek Ridout, Corporate Director
Leslee J. Thompson, Vice President, Cancer Care Ontario
David M. Williams, Corporate Director

[edit] Management

Glenn Murphy, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Jürgen Schreiber, President & Chief Operating Officer
Rennie Bugeja, Executive Vice-President, Retail Development
Andrew Faas, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development
Bryna Goldberg, Executive Vice-President, Legal Affairs, General Counsel & Secretary
George Halatsis, Executive Vice-President & Chief Financial Officer
Timothy McAleece, Executive Vice-President, Operations
Brian Relph, Executive Vice-President, Peers Relations
John Caplice, Senior Vice-President, Treasurer & Investor Relations
Virginia Cirocco, Senior Vice-President, Pharmacy
Terry Landry, Senior Vice-President, Operations, Pharmaprix
Brad Lukow, Senior Vice-President, Finance
Joseph Magnacca, Senior Vice-President, Merchandising & Category Management
Geoffrey Martin, Senior Vice-President, Business Development
Susanne Priest, Senior Vice-President, Shoppers Health Care Division
Bobbi Reinholdt, Senior Vice-President & Chief Information Officer
Susan Shaw, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources & Organizational Development
Kevin Whibbs, Senior Vice-President, Logistics & Supply Chain