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  • Walgreens in Hawaii?

    Uh oh. Walgreens Drug Store is in negotiations to open up its first drug stores in Hawai'i. Even though Longs is now owned by a California company, it has a Hawaiian heritage. Please support and patronize your local Longs Drug Stores. Walgreens, once let in to a territory, will start proliferating like crazy...like toadstools after a spring rain. And the profits from Walgreens go to feed you-know-who.

    Miulang
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

    I always wondered when another chain would challenge Longs here. They certainly focus on their "local" ties (despite being a California company), and there's a great deal of affection for them -- note Lee Cataluna's "Folks You Meet In Longs." But I've always felt they've rested on their laurels too long... only recently making changes to compete more aggressively on services and hours. And their prices remain noticably higher than they should be.

    Clearly folks like their spirit, as evidenced by the survival of the Mililani Longs store, literally across the parking lot from WalMart. The hippie liberal in me likes how they generally run their stores and treat their employees. And sometimes I'll duck in there when I'm shopping nearby, or I just want something quick (locals, having grown up in Longs stores, pretty much always know where everything is).

    But sentimentality and loyalty goes only so far. And sometimes I translate the CHARLESTON code on Longs' price tags, and it's enough to get me across the lot to WalMart again.

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    • #3
      Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

      don't need it. don't want it.
      we can only slice up the pie so many times, then our land is covered by only bigbox multinational corporate chain stores and our towns resemble just another ugly generic city in the valley.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Walgreen coming to Hawaii?

        Originally posted by Miulang
        And the profits from Walgreens go to feed you-know-who.
        Hi Miulang, maybe I haven't reading enough of your posts, and I can probably guess what you mean from context, but "you-know-who" = ??
        http://www.pineapplejuice.net/freshly-squeezed

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        • #5
          Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

          I don't see Walgreen's as a threat to Long's, at least in regards to over-the-counter consumer goods sales.

          I've shopped in Walgreen's all over. Shopped in them in Chicago (their home base), New Orleans, and down the road from me in Newport, RI. The one common denominator about their stores seems to be the "sameness" of them regardless of what town they are in. They all look alike, they all have the same merchandise, and to me, there isn't anything special about them that is going to change a local on O'ahu from switching alligences from Long's to Walgreen's. There doesn't seem to be any local flavor to them, no matter where they are at...nothing to distinguish a Chicago Walgreen's from an Attleboro, Massachusetts Walgreen's.

          What Long's has going for it, is the local flavor, with unique Hawai'i things, like musubi and loco-moco ovens at the checkouts, the crackseed aisle, the fresh poi at the downtown N. King branch and all the seasonal fun stuff one can get, say at Christmas.

          I'm not saying that Walgreen's wouldn't adapt to local tastes and needs (I think it would be an absolute must to compete in Hawai'i), but based on what I've seen at Walgreen's throughout the mainland, I'm guessing any Walgreen's in Hawai'i will be, in principle, no different from one in Milwaukee.

          I think the ultimate challange would be is how Long's would compete with Walgreen's on prescription drug prices. If Walgreen's can consistantly offer lower drug prices to the citizens of Hawai'i, which it may very well be able to, being the huge chain they are, Long's could conceiveably have a corporate fight to deal with.

          I might add that New Orleans once had a pharmacy chain of its own up, until a few years ago, that was similar to Long's, with an array of local goods and eclectic merchandise. It was known as K&B (Katz and Besthoff) and it was a well-known New Orleans tradition, just like Long's-Hawai'i is today. While K&B and Walgreen's were competitors from practically the start, (Walgreen's didn't muscle in all of a sudden over night), the K&B chain ultimately lost out, and if I recall, Walgreen's became, at that time of the K&B closures, the major drug store in N.O. Walgreen's is indeed a heavyweight that the upper management of Long's need to be wary of.

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          • #6
            Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

            Originally posted by Surfingfarmboy
            any Walgreen's in Hawai'i will be, in principle, no different from one in Milwaukee.
            sorry, but not at all true.

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            • #7
              Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

              I think it'll have some difficulty winning local consumers over. The Miliani situation is unique, because of the Wal-Mart, but the Home Depot hasn't (yet) taken out City Mill. There are places people go because that's where they've always gone, and Longs is definitely one of them.

              City Mill and Longs have that whole neighborhood thing in common. In order for Walgreens to convince me to shop there, it would have to be more convenient to me than Longs, and that's impossible. Almost everyone's close to a Longs, and that's why it does so well.

              Remember, Pay-Less made a go of it in the early nineties and couldn't hang on.

              Sure, there are things I'll never buy at Longs unless it's an emergency, because they're so much cheaper elsewhere, but I'm still there once or twice a week.

              Walgreens would do well to start off in places where its familiarity will be comforting to maindlanders, such as in Wahiawa and in Waikiki.
              But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
              GrouchyTeacher.com

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              • #8
                Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

                Kimo...you omitted two key words to my conjecture. The original quotation was "I'm guessing any Walgreen's in Hawai'i will be, in principle, no different from one in Milwaukee". I never stated it as a fact.

                Now...if the proposed Walgreen's is established at Pearl Kai, how will it be different from any other Walgreen's, other than by the virtue it would be in Hawai'i?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

                  my point was, even as a conjecture, it would miss the mark and not reflect reality.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

                    For me, it will depend on price and customer service. There are few things I specifically go to Longs to buy. Usually it's stuff that's on sale, like 99-cent shampoo or three candy bars for 99 cents.

                    Longs brands itself as a "local" company, but they're a mainland corporation whose stock trades publicly and has stockholders to answer to just like Walgreens. The grunt employees might be local, but so will the ones hired to work at Walgreens.

                    Oh, and my second factor - customer service. There are certain Longs stores I will personally never set foot inside and bad mouth them to anyone who will listen. Too many instances of grumpy/unhelpful clerks and sloooooow cashiers do take their toll on consumers.

                    If I'm consistently treated better and can find lower prices at Walgreens, then that's where I'll shop.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

                      Originally posted by kimo55
                      my point was, even as a conjecture, it would miss the mark and not reflect reality.
                      Don't you know, Surfingfarmboy? Kimo knows all! He can declare any statement false on its face, and his all-knowingness alone should validate the declaration. Don't bother asking for an explanation. It just highlights your ignorance.

                      What would Walgreens have to do to 'adapt' to the local market? Carry crack seed, arare, and bentos. I think a key element as to how easy this will be is how Walgreens handles inventory. Longs, in many cases, requires vendors and suppliers to maintain stock. The people who refill the racks of arare, for example, are most likely the wholesaler who has the contract with Longs, not Longs employees. If Walgreens follows a similar model, "adapting" won't require much more than making deals with local suppliers. If, however, Walgreens has a centralized inventory and ordering system, making room beyond the "template" of standard offerings would take a lot more work.

                      Originally posted by scrivener
                      I think it'll have some difficulty winning local consumers over. The Miliani situation is unique, because of the Wal-Mart, but the Home Depot hasn't (yet) taken out City Mill. There are places people go because that's where they've always gone, and Longs is definitely one of them.
                      Sure, City Mill and Longs are still around despite Home Depot and WalMart, but it sure doesn't look like Home Depot and WalMart are lacking for customers. What the "local" companies have is goodwill and service... and as Palolo Joe notes, there's certainly pockets of apallingly bad service at these "local" companies. Fact is, great as it is that the "take care" of their people, that often means holding onto employees that are liabilities, not assets, to their stores. I've remarked more than once how amazing it is that there are some local businesses that not only seem to not want my business... but are outright hostile to actually earning a buck. They'd rather I walk out the door than burn a few calories to ring up a sale.

                      Again, if the "local" stores just expect us to patronize them just because of their neighborhood links, and don't emphasize service, then all consumers have to decide on is price, and that usually means they'll go to the "big box" chains.

                      Longs does have a knack for picking locations here, though. If I were Walgreens, I'd have a tough time coming up with spots that would work as well.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

                        Strange, I feel Longs is a "local" store here in California. I don't see why Wallgreens wouldn't be able to do the same type of "business" that Longs is doing in the islands. It all depends on the people. Any business can be considered "local", depending on how long they have been established in the area. And I think that's why Longs is considered "local" there in Hawai'i and here in California.
                        Arturo

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                        • #13
                          Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

                          Walgreens are literally on every street corner in Arizona these days it seems, but Longs went bust in my college town of Flagstaff, Arizona during Senior Bush's recession during the early 90's. I knew of several other Longs going out of business as well. I knew its home base was in Northern California but I was astonished to see Hawaii had so many Longs and that is was a monopoly as a drug store on the islands. Remember I thought most Longs had gone out of business so it was surprising to see how well it did over here.

                          I agree Walgreens would do extremely well in Waikiki because of all the mainland tourists who could see a familiar drug store to shop at. I always thought it was smart business of Zippy's not to have a restaurant in Waikiki because the mainland tourists would ignore it since its such a local tradition.

                          KalihiBoy

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                          • #14
                            Re: Walgreens in Hawaii?

                            Originally posted by Kalihiboy
                            I agree Walgreens would do extremely well in Waikiki because of all the mainland tourists who could see a familiar drug store to shop at.
                            Even with an ABC Store on every corner?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Walgreen coming to Hawaii?

                              Originally posted by Keith H.
                              Hi Miulang, maybe I haven't reading enough of your posts, and I can probably guess what you mean from context, but "you-know-who" = ??
                              I think Miulang might be under the impression that Walgreens and Wal-Mart are connected. Both may be giant soul-sucking corporations, but they're not directly related.

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