Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

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lvkewlkid
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by lvkewlkid »

when they remodeled the sav-ons in vegas, they didn't really gut them, they just put up new signs and changed the flooring and the shelving
wrallen99
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Looks Like Walgreens wants Long's, too

Post by wrallen99 »

It looks like Walgreens also wants Longs:
http://www.ktar.com/?nid=48&sid=958334
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storewanderer
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by storewanderer »

These drugstores from other parts of the country are determined to get rid of our beloved big drug stores out here on the west coast.
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krogerclerk
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by krogerclerk »

That's a big change in strategy for Walgreens. The acquired Happy Harrys in Delaware and made a purchase in Puerto Rico recently, but those are small time. They plan to open their first store in Alaska next year, making them a player in all 50 states and DC.

CVS closed its Hawaii and Oregon locations that came with the Sav-on merger. So I think they will keep the Longs name around in Hawaii for a little while anyway. Walgreens opened its first Hawaii location last November.

Ten years ago a pharmacists told me that at one of the trade meetings he was told in a few years only 3 or 4 drugstores will still be around. Looks like that is coming to fruition.
luckysaver
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by luckysaver »

The Eastland West Covina Longs has been there since Hirams (later Lucky, now Albertsons-Savon) first opened. If it does convert to CVS next year, it will be the third CVS store in West Covina. The other two are:

- Azusa and Puente, first built to be a Rite Aid, then quickly sold to Savon, which was acquired by CVS. A couple of blocks away in Covina (at San Bernardino Rd) is another CVS, also an ex-Savon.

- Nogales and La Puente, was in a older structure that was a Savon Home Center, later Savon Drugs since 1979. As part of the Quail Village redevelopment, Albertsons built a new Savon Drugs on the site of the former Sizzler restaurant and within 2 years, it was converted to CVS. All that remains of Albertsons' presence is a outdoor recycled park bench donated by Albertsons Drug Stores division. The older wood-frame structure is currently being renovated into an ethnic supermarket called Foodmart International.

luckysaver
Dean
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by Dean »

Dean wrote:Enjoyed seeing the following sign:

Coming Soon! Another NEW LONGS!

On Highway 111 @ Deep Canyon, in Palm Desert CA.

There is a CVS in the Ralphs center just a bit east...which I assume will close, and assume the NEW location...if the construction continues. Seems to just be the beginning...dirt turning, etc.
Building is going up fast. It will interesting to see what it opens as. Sign still says LONGS.
TenPoundHammer
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by TenPoundHammer »

Aren't Longs stores usually way bigger than most drugstores? They seem so when I see them on mall directories of malls with Longs in them.
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Daniel
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by Daniel »

Longs are bigger than a Rite Aid or Walgreens. They were in line with the size of store Payless or Thrifty built in the 70's and 80's.
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storewanderer
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by storewanderer »

There is a new Longs at the intersection of Wingfield Springs/Disc in Sparks, NV that is fully built. There are signs up for Longs Drugs. The interior of the store has been tiled and painted, but no shelves or interior signage has been installed. The store has been like this now for the past few weeks.

There is also a Longs in Reno, NV at the intersection of Sierra/Second in the bottom of a previous casino. This store was fully finished, but never stocked, and has never opened. There were issues with the gaming board refusing to issue Longs a license to operate slot machines in this store because they did not want Longs competing with the downtown Reno casinos. So, Longs simply didn't open the store, and it sits. The Longs signs on the building have been covered with tarps. CVS has changed the slot machine operation arrangement, so it will be interesting to see if they open this store.
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ajsanjua
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by ajsanjua »

Another chain gobbled up by CVS in the past decade and a half...
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romleys
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by romleys »

The Longs name is going along with hundreds of employees...
http://www.kcbs.com/Layoffs-Reported-as ... ds/3232988
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by krogerclerk »

The layoffs are starting sooner than I expected. How many Longs and CVS stores are redundant? I know CVS has a bigger presence in SoCal than Longs, while their BayArea and NorCal presence is small, but Longs has critical mass.

CVS has shrank the size of the former Sav-on's and reduced store staffing, so I would expect more layoffs despite what their press release says.

The Western drug chains emerged in a region that had far fewer variety stores/5&10's than the East where Rite Aid and CVS originated along with their absorbed predecessors Revco and BrooksEckerd. The Eastern drugstores never developed the level of gen merch that Longs, Payless and Thrifty were known for. Even Walgreens and OSCO emerged in the Midwest in similar circumstances as the more easterly chains. OSCO never had the depth of gen merch found in SavOn and Skaggs Drug Stores even after years of common ownership.

The current prototypes of Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid carry more gen merch than their predecessors, but approach the convenience store model more that the variety store found in the Western drugstores.

I don't think CVS will benefit as much from this merger as they hope. On the heels of digesting Sav-on and OSCO and the southernmost Eckerds, they may find an Albertson's-like scenario emerging as they eliminate another well established banner.
Jan
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by Jan »

luckysaver wrote:The Eastland West Covina Longs has been there since Hirams (later Lucky, now Albertsons-Savon) first opened. If it does convert to CVS next year, it will be the third CVS store in West Covina. The other two are:

- Azusa and Puente, first built to be a Rite Aid, then quickly sold to Savon, which was acquired by CVS. A couple of blocks away in Covina (at San Bernardino Rd) is another CVS, also an ex-Savon.

- Nogales and La Puente

luckysaver
Plus, there's another Longs in West Covina, which sits next to the Vons on Glendora Ave at Cameron Ave. When they remodeled the Glendora store (pre-buyout), it looked too much like a CVS, so I went back to shopping/getting prescriptions filled at the Eastland location.
ieguy441
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by ieguy441 »

krogerclerk wrote:The layoffs are starting sooner than I expected. How many Longs and CVS stores are redundant? I know CVS has a bigger presence in SoCal than Longs, while their BayArea and NorCal presence is small, but Longs has critical mass.

CVS has shrank the size of the former Sav-on's and reduced store staffing, so I would expect more layoffs despite what their press release says.

The Western drug chains emerged in a region that had far fewer variety stores/5&10's than the East where Rite Aid and CVS originated along with their absorbed predecessors Revco and BrooksEckerd. The Eastern drugstores never developed the level of gen merch that Longs, Payless and Thrifty were known for. Even Walgreens and OSCO emerged in the Midwest in similar circumstances as the more easterly chains. OSCO never had the depth of gen merch found in SavOn and Skaggs Drug Stores even after years of common ownership.

The current prototypes of Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid carry more gen merch than their predecessors, but approach the convenience store model more that the variety store found in the Western drugstores.

I don't think CVS will benefit as much from this merger as they hope. On the heels of digesting Sav-on and OSCO and the southernmost Eckerds, they may find an Albertson's-like scenario emerging as they eliminate another well established banner.
This may be off topic for this thread, but CVS has been prunning off the upper management and most of the former Sav-on managers to save money... it's kind of a big deal right now in that company.
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storewanderer
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Re: Long's Drugs being bought by CVS and will disappear by 2009

Post by storewanderer »

Get ready, because the true conversions are about to begin.

Might be time to save that last Longs print ad too, if anyone wants one.
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