DEERFIELD, Ill., Oct. 11, 2011 - As part of the 2011 Chicago Ideas Week (CIW), Walgreens executive director of pharmacy and health care experience Nimesh Jhaveri will discuss today the company’s innovative work toward transforming its retail stores into a destination for health and daily living. Jhaveri will participate in the “Designing an Experience” panel as part of the “Fast Company: Creativity Session,” where leaders from a variety of disciplines will explore the importance of creativity and innovation in business. The event will be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago at 4 p.m. CST today, October 11, 2011.
Recently, as part of a pilot program, Walgreens revamped approximately 20 of its stores in the Chicago area, along with its stores in the Indianapolis market, to meet the changing needs of customers and offer them an improved experience. Features include:
- An open, redesigned layout with expanded fresh food and beauty products, and more accessible shelving and checkout lines.
- A designated Health Guide, a Walgreens employee who is available to answers product and services questions.
- A pharmacist desk area in front of the pharmacy counter to provide greater accessibility for consultation about medications and to provide additional clinical services.
- Private or semi-private consultation rooms that differentiate Walgreens from other drugstores and provide a customized environment for services such as immunizations, blood pressure and blood glucose testing, and help with self-injectable medications.
- State of the art technology including Web pickup services which allow customers to shop online and pick up orders at the store, and self-serve touch screen kiosks so pharmacy patients can quickly refill prescriptions.
“Walgreens has a long-standing history of innovation, and with this pilot initiative we’ve aimed to evolve the traditional pharmacy and retail store format to meet the needs of our customers who are more involved than ever in managing their own care and are seeking cost effective health care options delivered in a simple, customized way,” said Jhaveri. “When a customer walks into one of our new stores, we want them to have a very palpable feeling of wellness. With this in mind, we have focused on improving the design, convenience and quality of our pharmacy services, more effectively utilizing the space in the store, and fully leveraging the expertise of our highly-trained pharmacy staff to help deliver an experience that reflects our capabilities and commitment to cost effective health care.”
CIW 2011 runs from Oct. 10-16, 2011, and brings together the world’s top speakers with Chicago’s best thinkers to create a forum for innovation, exploration and intellectual recreation. In addition to Jhaveri’s participation on today’s panel, Walgreens also will host an iPad booth at the CIW Health and Wellness Talk on Oct. 16, which will also be located at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Jhaveri has been with Walgreens for 22 years, holding positions in pharmacy operations, corporate strategy, pharmacy technology and human resources. He received his pharmacy degree from Rutgers University and a MBA in organizational behavior from the Lake Forest (Ill.) Graduate School of Management.
About Walgreens
Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2011 sales of $72 billion. The company operates 7,779 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.
Walgreens
Jim Cohn, 847-315-2950
jim.cohn@walgreens.com
http://news.walgreens.com