Shoppers Drug Mart facts for kids
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Retail and pharmacy |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Founder | Murray Koffler |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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Number of locations
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1,307 (Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix) 56 (Shoppers Home Health Care) |
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Key people
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Jeff Leger (President) |
| Products | Health and personal care products |
| Parent | Loblaw Companies |
| Subsidiaries | Murale |
Shoppers Drug Mart, often called Shoppers (or Pharmaprix in Quebec), is a large chain of drugstores in Canada. It started in Toronto, Ontario, and now has over 1,300 stores across most of Canada.
A pharmacist named Murray Koffler started the company in 1962. His family still owns a similar pharmacy chain called Super-Pharm in other countries like Israel and Poland. Super-Pharm even uses some of the same store brands as Shoppers Drug Mart, like Life Brand and Quo.
In 2014, a big Canadian company called Loblaw Companies bought Shoppers Drug Mart. By early 2016, Shoppers had grown to more than 1,300 locations across Canada.
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What Shoppers Drug Mart Does
Shoppers Drug Mart offers more than just regular pharmacy services. They also have special stores and services. For example, they have "Wellwise by Shoppers Drug Mart" stores. These stores sell things like wheelchairs, home-care products, and medical equipment to help people live better.
They also have a service called Shoppers Drug Mart Specialty Health Network. This service helps distribute special medicines and supports patients. Another part of the company, MediSystem Technologies Inc., provides medicines and health services to places like nursing homes.
In 2017, Shoppers launched a new store idea called Wellwise. These stores focus on selling healthy living products, especially for older adults. You can also shop online at wellwise.ca and beautyboutique.ca. Many Shoppers stores even deliver prescriptions to your home for free.
How Shoppers Drug Mart Started
When he was 20, Murray Koffler took over two pharmacies from his father. These were called Koffler's Drugs. By 1962, Koffler had 17 pharmacies. He later changed their name to "Shoppers Drug Mart" in the 1970s. The very first store with the name "Shoppers Drug Mart" was in a place called Shoppers World Danforth.
Koffler changed how drugstores worked in Canada. He removed old-fashioned soda fountains. Instead, he focused on the pharmacy part. He made sure his pharmacists wore white coats to show they were professionals. In the mid-1950s, he started buying other drugstores. He also created a new system where pharmacists could own and run their own stores within his company. They would also share in the profits.
Over the years, Shoppers Drug Mart grew by joining with or buying other pharmacy chains.
- In 1968, they merged with 33 Plaza Drugstores in Ontario.
- In 1971, they bought 87 Cunningham Drug Stores in British Columbia and Alberta.
- In 1972, they started the Pharmaprix chain in Quebec with another company. Koffler later bought full control of Pharmaprix in 1979.
- In 1974, 26 Lord's Supervalue Pharmacies in Atlantic Canada joined Shoppers.
- They also bought Super X Drugstores (72 stores) in 1986.
- Later, they bought Pinder's Drugs in 1992 and Bi-Rite Drug Stores in 1995, both in Western Canada.
- In 1995, they acquired 135 Big V Drugstores.
- The first Shoppers Home Health Care store opened in 1996.
When Murray Koffler retired in 1986, he sold the chain. David Bloom, a former Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacist, became the new leader. He helped the company grow a lot. During his time, Shoppers doubled its stores and greatly increased its sales. He also started the Shoppers Optimum loyalty program in 2000.
In 2001, Glenn Murphy became the new leader. Later that year, Shoppers Drug Mart became a public company. This meant people could buy shares of the company on the stock market.
In 2002, Shoppers Drug Mart introduced bigger stores. These new stores had more space and focused more on beauty products. The beauty section is usually near the entrance, with the pharmacy at the back. They also added a small food section called Food Essentials.
On April 26, 2007, the 1000th Shoppers Drug Mart store opened in Toronto. In recent years, the company has been selling more food and beauty items. They want to rely less on just selling medicines.
In 2018, Shoppers Drug Mart opened a very large store in downtown Toronto at Yonge–Dundas Square.
Becoming Part of Loblaw Companies
On July 15, 2013, Loblaw Companies, a big grocery store company, announced they would buy Shoppers Drug Mart. The deal was approved in March 2014.
Because of this, Shoppers Drug Mart stores started selling products from Loblaw's own brands, like President's Choice and No Name. In return, Loblaw's grocery stores could also sell Shoppers' "Life" brand products.
Shoppers Drug Mart Rewards Program
Customers can earn points through the PC Optimum program. This program used to be called Shoppers Optimum. When you buy things at Shoppers Drug Mart, you collect points. You can then use these points to get money off your future purchases.
For most purchases, you get 15 points for every dollar you spend. However, you don't get points for things like lottery tickets, tobacco, transit passes, or prescription medicines. Shoppers often has special events where you can earn extra points or use your points for bigger savings.
On February 1, 2018, the Shoppers Optimum program joined with Loblaw's PC Plus program. They became one big program called PC Optimum. Now, 10,000 points are worth $10, and you can use them in groups of 10,000 points.
Advertising and Slogans
Shoppers Drug Mart has used different slogans over the years to advertise:
- "You're Gonna Be Happy" — used in the early to mid-1980s.
- "Everything you Want in a Drugstore" — used in the 1980s and early 1990s, featuring actress Bea Arthur.
- "Take Care of Yourself" — used from 2000 to 2002.
- "Your Life Store" — used from 2002 to today. This slogan goes with their own "Life" brand products. In French, it's "Vive la vie!" which means "Long live life!"
- "Gifts Made Easy" — a special slogan for holiday campaigns since 2006.
