White Paper. Post #1. Walgreens vs. Rite-Aid.

I happen to work at Walgreens that is located on Buffalo Rd, Chili, NY. Right across the street from us there is Rite-Aid. When I realized I had to do a white paper for my class, it took me forever to come up with a topic, but then one day I realized that a lot of my customers complained about my competitor across the street, so my white paper happened to be about the two local pharmacies. Please, note that this white paper it NOT about Rite-Aid and Walgreens in the nation, but only about those two stores located on Buffalo Rd, Chili, NY.

The Walgreens I work at was opened 5 years ago, and gained its clientele pretty much right away. People like everything new, what can I say? The store manager, Michael Tougas, had a great team of managers who helped him gain public appreciation. Today, this store has regular customers, a few employees that have worked there for over 3 years, and managers who have seen the store grow up into a “big boy”.

Rite-Aid that is across the street opened a year prior to Walgreens. It gained its customers, too. Rite-Aid was doing okay even after the competitor came along because some people simply don’t change their habits. Rite-Aid tried to concentrate on their pharmacy* service rather than concentrating on their cashiers or managers that were working on the floor. As of today, Rite-Aid keeps getting bad reviews from those who have left it to go to Walgreens across the street.
In this White Paper I will try and figure out why this has happened, and what could Rite-Aid do in order to change things around a little bit and to gain community respect back.
*Please, note that I will NOT be talking about pharmacy’s services much due to the fact that I do not work in the pharmacy department, and I get more information from regular customers who come in to buy milk or cheaper make up.