24-hour opening was pharmacy folly

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/02/2019 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No one would ever call Winnipeg the city that never sleeps.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that Shoppers Drug Mart recently announced it would be reducing the hours of the five local stores that formerly operated 24 hours a day.

However, for the national chain of pharmacies to blame its failure on the low number of late-night shoppers in Winnipeg is disingenuous. If it were as simple as that, 7-Elevens would still only be open from 7 to 11.

Shoppers operates on a business model that makes 24-hour shopping untenable in most circumstances; to introduce it so widely, especially in stores largely located far from densely populated areas and mixed-use housing, was an act of hubris in the first place.

It’s notable that Rexall, another Canadian pharmacy-retail chain, has no 24-hour stores; in fact, some Winnipeg locations close as early as 5 p.m. and do not open Sundays.

Over the years, and especially after its purchase by Canada’s largest food retailer, Loblaws Companies Inc., Shoppers has encouraged customers to treat it as a supermarket or a convenience store — its aisles are filled with snacks, grocery items, frozen food, household items — but it remains, first and foremost, a pharmacy.

That means it must have a pharmacist on-site any time the store is open. Unlike, say, 7-Elevens, which often employ a single low-wage worker through the night, Shoppers stores must pay a pharmacist overnight rates for eight hours (likely at least $55 per hour), as well as cashiers and a merchandiser, and possibly a security guard. People buying chips or refilling their Peggo cards at midnight aren’t likely to offset those costs.

The pharmacy also has the highest dispensing fees in the province. Though this is due in part to the stores’ longer hours (prefer to pay Costco’s lower fee? Be Shoppers’ guest, but don’t come crying to them at 11:30 p.m.), it only fuels the notion that Shoppers Drug Mart is where you go for lipstick or Band-Aids or snacks, not prescriptions.

Then there’s the question of loss prevention: as many a mom has warned, “Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.”

Yes, there are customers doing shift work who turn to an all-night pharmacy for groceries.

There are parents looking for medication for a sick child. But there’s little doubt that the appearance of bad actors — troublemakers, shoplifters, inebriated customers — goes up after the sun goes down, especially in locations close to bars and restaurants, such as Osborne Village.

The one 24-hour Shoppers location that might conceivably have had enough overnight traffic to be viable is also the one most likely to be plagued by theft and disruption — and losses at a pharmacy-retailer are not restricted to gum or taquitos or other under-$20 trifles, as they are at a convenience store, but also include more expensive items, such as cosmetics, perfume, medications and electronics.

When Shoppers Drug Mart first moved to 24-hour stores in Winnipeg, it was following a corporate mandate that clearly didn’t take into account the specific communities it was supposed to serve or how well-suited it was to provide round-the-clock convenience in a smaller centre. The company jumped on the 24-7 bandwagon, but someone was asleep at the wheel.