Walgreens.com
Company
Walgreens, aka Walgreen Company, is a nationwide retain chain of pharmacy and drug stores. They are spread throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. They are headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, and were founded in 1901.
Website
Walgreens.com is a serviceable site which puts an Internet face on the corner drugstore. Where some retailers don't seem to know what to do with the Internet, Walgreens has gone out of it's way to make the website as useful to their customers as they can.
Sections include:
- Pharmacy
- Here, with a sign-up ID, you can refill and transfer prescriptions, check drug interactions, and manage your health history.
- Health Library
- A comprehensive interactive health encyclopedia. Includes sections:
- Recipe file - try healthy recipes tailor-made for people with special diet needs.
- Calculators - Such as body mass calculator and calorie burner calculator.
- Health Corner TV - A kind of podcast show about health and pharmacy news, produced by Walgreens.
- Surgeries and procedures - A place to learn more about your upcoming surgery or medical procedure.
- Monthly Newsletter - A newsletter about health issues.
- Health Centers - Resources for managing special health conditions, such as high cholesterol and diabetes.
- Health Encyclopedia - A handy online reference.
- Health risk assessments - A place to learn what conditions you are at risk for.
- Diabetes and you - A special section devoted to managing diabetes.
- A comprehensive interactive health encyclopedia. Includes sections:
- Photo
- An online kiosk to the Walgreens photo center, where customers can access their developed photos online.
- Shop
- An online catalog of the products carried by Walgreens stores, including the sections:
- Electronics
- Health Care
- Household
- Personal
- Toys
- Baby
- Vitamins and nutritional supplements
- Beauty and spa
- Sexual health
- Contact lenses
- Fitness & diet
- Home medical
- An online catalog of the products carried by Walgreens stores, including the sections:
- Store locator - An easy-to-use interaction which finds the Walgreens closest to you.
The site also has the standard sections for Careers, Press Room, and Information related to the business.
History
The first Walgreens chain was established in 1901 as a drug store owned by Charles R. Walgreen, Sr., in Chicago, when he bought out the previous owner. While he had worked at the store for the previous owner and had been a valuable employee, the owner was reluctant to sell out of the business but finally relented. Charles Walgreen was now in charge of the business, and it was obviously very good to him.
Charles Walgreen extensively remodeled the business, and greatly improved efficiency. When he began taking pharmacy orders, he instituted the policy of the "two-minute drill" with his employees, insisting that the pharmacy order had to be fulfilled within two minutes of request. Walgreen sent delivery persons around with the prescriptions ordered by telephone, and customers who lived close by were amazed to get their orders before they'd even hung up the phone.
By 1910, they had added to the standard soda fountain that was expected at a drug store, making it a full snack bar. It is here that the expression "soda jerk" came to be, from the jerking motion of the soda fountain handle that the clerk made. Walgreen also was the first to offer hot food along with cold food at the soda fountain, and is also widely credited with inventing the milkshake.
By 1913, the business had grown to four store locations, and 20 stores by 1920. This policy of expanding would continue throughout Walgreen's business. Surprising for a Fortune 500 company over a century old, Walgreen's has not grown through buy-outs and mergers, but from simply turning profits into new stores.
Business profile
Walgreen Company reported revenue of $47.41 billion in 2006. They employ over 195,000 people at the current number of over 5,700 retail locations, with plans to expand the number of locations to 7,000 by 2010. Walgreens is ranked by the Fortune 500 as #45.
Languages
English
Address
- 200 Wilmot Rd
- Deerfield IL 60015 US
Contact
- Walgreens, Julie Shelton
-
- +1 847 914 5690, Fax: +1 847 948 6573
Additional Information
Related Domains
External Links
- Stock: WAG
- Alexa: Walgreens.com