Overview
Walgreens provides access to consumer goods and services, plus pharmacy, health and wellness services in America through its retail drugstores, Walgreens Health Services division, and Walgreens Health and Wellness division. Walgreens had 8,061 drugstores as of December 31, 2012. Walgreens runs several on line stores such as www.Beauty.com, Drugstore.com andwww.VisionDirect.com.[3]

History
Company history
 

 
A Walgreens store seen in the background in Times Square on VJ Day

 
 
Early "Walgreen Drugs" sign still in use inSan Antonio, Texas

Walgreens began in 1901, with a drug store on the corner of Bowen Ave and Cottage Grove in Chicago, owned by Galesburg native Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.[4] By 1913, Walgreens had grown to four stores on Chicago's South Side. It opened its fifth in 1915, and four in 1916. By 1919, there were 20 stores in the chain. The 1920s were successful for Walgreens.

In 1922, the company introduced a malted milkshake, which led to it establishing ice cream manufacturing plants. The next year, Walgreen began opening stores away from residential areas. In the mid-1920s, there were 44 stores with annual sales of $1,200,000. Walgreens had expanded into Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

By 1930, it had 397 stores with annual sales of $4,000,000. This expansion partly was attributed to selling alcohol, mainly whiskey, which Walgreen often stocked under the counter, as accounted in Daniel Okrent's Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.[5] The stock market crash in October 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression did not greatly affect the company. In 1934, Walgreens was operating in 30 states with 601 stores.

 
 
A Walgreens on Rt.1 South, Saugus, Massachusetts.

After Charles Walgreen Sr. died in 1939, his son Charles R. Walgreen took over the chain until his retirement. The Charles R. Walgreen years were relatively prosperous, but lacked the massive expansion seen in the early part of the century. Charles "Cork" R. Walgreen III took over after Walgreen Jr.'s retirement in the early 1950s, and modernized the company by switching to barcode scanning. The Walgreen family was not involved in senior management of the company for a short time following Walgreen III's retirement. In 1986, it acquired the MediMart chain from Stop & Shop.[6] In 1995, Kevin P. Walgreen was made a vice-president and promoted to Senior Vice President - Store Operations in 2006.

On July 12, 2006, David Bernauer stepped down as CEO of Walgreens, replaced by company president Jeff Rein. Holding degrees in accounting and pharmacy from the University of Arizona, Rein was a pharmacist, store manager, district manager, and treasurer prior to being named Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. Greg Wasson, former President of Walgreens Health Services, was named President and Chief Operations Officer.

On October 10, 2008, Rein abruptly quit as CEO, replaced by Alan G. McNally as Chairman and Acting CEO.

On January 26, 2009, Gregory Wasson was named CEO, effective February 1, 2009.

21st century expansion
• 2006: Walgreens acquired the Happy Harry's chain in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey.
• October 2007: Walgreens opened its 6000th store in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• January 2008: Walgreens purchased 20 stores in Puerto Rico from Farmacias El Amal.
• July 2009: Walgreens operates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• February 17, 2010: Walgreens announced plans to acquire New York City-area chain Duane Reade for $1.075 billion, including debt.
Walgreens continues to operate in the New York City metropolitan area as Duane Reade; its stores near existing Walgreens were closed.
• March 24, 2011: Walgreens acquired Drugstore.com for $409 million. Drugstore.com in turn owned Beauty.com. In 2013 Beauty.com was named by Internet Retailer Magazine in its Top 100 online retails sites list.
• April 30, 2011: Walgreens operated 8,169 stores; it had expanded into Guam and Puerto Rico.
• June 19, 2012: Walgreens paid $6.7bn for a 45% stake in Alliance Boots.
• July 5, 2012: Walgreens entered into an agreement to acquire Mid-South drug store chain operating under the USA Drug, Super D Drug, May's Drug, Med-X and Drug Warehouse banners. The deal is expected to be finalized by September 1.

Contributions to popular culture
Walgreens claims credit for the popularization of the malted milkshake (or at least its version of the malted milkshake), invented by Ivar "Pop" Coulson in 1922,[19] although milkshakes and malted milk had been around for some time before. This development coincided with the invention of the electric blender in the same year.

Corporate operations
Walgreens has its corporate headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois.As of 2009 Walgreens employed 5,200 people at its headquarters.In 1987 Walgreens employed about 1,100 people at its headquarters, which was at the time in an unincorporated area on the west side of Deerfield.As of 2000, headquarters was still in an unincorporated area in West Deerfield Township.

Store model
 

 
 
An Uptown Houston Walgreens at a street intersection.

Walgreens stores were originally connected to local groceries. In Chicago, their flagship market, they teamed up with either Eagle Food Centers or Dominick's Finer Foods, usually with a "walkthru" to the adjoining store and often sharing personnel. This concept was instated to compete with the popular dual store format used by chief competitor Jewel-Osco/Albertsons-Sav-On. They eventually ended the relationship with Eagle and focused primarily on a connection to the Dominick's stores. PharmX-Rexall filled the vacated Walgreen locations joined to Eagle stores.

A Walgreens "corner drugstore", located in a Marriott street-level retail space, on the corner of a heavily-trafficked intersection inWashington, D.C
In its 2009 business model, Walgreens are freestanding corner stores, with the entrance on the street with the most traffic flow, figuratively making it a "corner drugstore" similar to how many independent pharmacies evolved. Some stores have a drive-through pharmacy, while 3000 refill inkjet printer cartridges.[26]

The store management team usually includes a Store Manager (MGR), an Executive Assistant Manager (EXA), and at least one Assistant Manager (MGT). In 2009, Walgreens introduced the Store Team Lead (STL), or "non-management keyholder", position in many of its stores. In 2012, Walgreens announced that they would be phasing out the MGT, EXA, and STL positions for the Assistant Store Manager Trainee (ASM-T), Assistant Store Manager (ASM), and Shift Leader (SFL) positions, respectively. The new management structure will implement a new structure and payscale that will more closely resemble their competitors to reflect the industry standard.

Disability inclusion initiative
In 2002, Walgreens senior vice president of supply chain and logistics Randy Lewis began a program aimed at providing opportunity to the disabled to work side by side with typical workers. The result was the development and opening of two distribution centers whose staff is approximately 40% disabled. The model was so successful that other companies such as Clarks Companies NA, Glaxo Smith Kline, Best Buy, and Costco have either examined it or placed it under consideration.[27]

Related ventures
 

 
Wag's menu logo circa 1985

Walgreens formerly owned Sanborns, one of the largest pharmacy and department store chain in Mexico, having purchased Sanborns from Frank Sanborn in 1946 and selling it to GrupoCarso in 1982.[28]

In the 1980s, Walgreens owned and operated a chain of casual family restaurants/pancake houses called Wag's, an attempt to compete with Woolworth's lunch counters. The Wag's restaurants were very similar in concept to Denny's, IHOP and Golden Bear. At the highpoint, they had over 100 locations. Walgreens sold most of these to Marriott Corp. in 1988[29] and by 1991 the chain had completely gone out of business.

Environmental record
In 2006, in efforts to clean the environments of the communities in which Walgreen stores operated, Walgreens teamed up with ImaginIt to bring solar power systems to two distribution centers and 100 stores.[30] This has significantly lowered the amount of electricity supplied from outside sources. The distribution centers and stores in California make 20% to 50% of their own electricity from the solar power system.

Walgreens also started testing the prospects of energy saving lighting equipment in its stores. A few of its test stores have used a system of lighting called "dimming/daylight harvesting ballast," created by Axis Technology Group.[31]

The company has also removed arguably harmful air fresheners from its stores, and started selling products made from recycled juice cartons.[32]
In newer stores, Walgreens installed motion sensitive lights in sections of the building. The lights only turn on when someone enters the room. Rooms that have these lights include breakrooms, restrooms, the office, the warehouse/receiving areas, and the pharmacy.

Consumer record
 

 
 
A Walgreens in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, which opened in 2006.

As of June 2008, Walgreens "agreed to stop altering prescriptions without physician approval as part of a multi-state agreement to settle allegations of improper billing," reported the Knoxville News Sentinel:[33][34]

Walgreens was accused of switching the dosage forms on three medications commonly prescribed for Medicaid patients withoutdoctor approvals in order to boost profits. This resulted in Medicaid programs nationwide paying much more for the medications than they normally would have, according to a press release by the [Tennessee] attorney general's office. Walgreen Co. agreed to comply with state and federal laws on the matter, plus pay $35 million to the federal government, 42 states and theCommonwealth of Puerto Rico.

"The compliance agreement will be in effect for five years. Walgreens did not admit liability, as part of the settlement," reported theChicago Sun-Times.[35]

The Walgreens web site, www.walgreens.com, invited users to write reviews of some OTC products such as vitamins and nutritionals, but did not invite users to write reviews of the corresponding Walgreens-branded products. A recent revision of the Walgreens web site has added the ability to review any product it sells.

In March 2008, Walgreens settled a lawsuit with the EEOC that alleged the company discriminated against African-Americans for $24 million.[36] The settlement was split between the 10,000 African-American employees of the company.[36] In the agreement, Walgreens avoided any admission of guilt.

The decree, one of the largest monetary settlements in a race case by the EEOC, provides for the payment of over $24 million to a class of thousands of African American workers and orders comprehensive injunctive relief designed to improve the company’s promotion and store assignment practices.

Also in 2008, Walgreens "agreed to pay $35 million to the U.S., 42 states and Puerto Rico for overcharging state Medicaid programs by filling prescriptions with more expensive dosage forms of ranitidine, a generic form of Zantac and fluoxetine, which is a generic form of Prozac."[37]
In 2009, Walgreens threatened to leave the Medicaid program, the state and federal partnership to provide health insurance coverage to the poor, in Delaware, over reimbursement rates. Walgreens was the largest pharmacy chain in the state and the only chain to make such a threat.[38] The state of Delaware and Walgreens reached an agreement on payment rates and the crisis was averted.[39]

In 2010, Walgreens stopped accepting Medicaid in Washington state, leaving its 1 million Medicaid recipients unable to get their prescriptions filled at these 121 stores.[40]

In March 2011, Walgreens was sued in California by customers for allegedly selling customer's medical information.[41]

According to the suit, brought by Todd Murphy on behalf of his two daughters and the rest of the class, Walgreen sells the prescription information to data mining companies who resell it to pharmaceutical companies for marketing purposes. The practice allows drugmakers to target physicians considered high-volume prescribers and those most willing to prescribe new medications, it said.

In 2011, Walgreens announced it would end its relationship with Express Scripts,[42] a prescription benefits manager. A coalition of minority groups, led by Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network,[43] sent letters urging CEO Gregory Wasson to reconsider. Groups sending letters were National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference,[44] the Congress of Racial Equality,[45] Hispanic Leadership Fund[46] and others. On July 19, 2012, Walgreens and Express Scripts announced a multi-year pharmacy network agreement that includes rates and terms under which Walgreens would participate in the broadest Express Scripts retail pharmacy network available to new and existing clients as of September 15, 2012.

Walgreens was named in a lawsuit by the Union Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Employers Midwest Health Benefits Fund in the Northern District Court of Illinois in January 2012. The suit alleges Walgreens and Par Pharmaceuticals violated the RICO Act[47] "at least two widespread schemes to overcharge" for generic drugs."[37]

The lawsuit alleges drugstore chain Walgreen and generic pharmaceutical maker Par established a partnership in which Par manufactured and/or marketed generic versions of antacid Zantac and antidepressant Prozac in dosage forms that weren't subject to private and governmental reimbursement limitations. It further said Walgreen purchased those dosage forms from par at a cost substantially higher than the widely prescribed dosage forms, and then "systematically and unlawfully filled its customers' prescriptions with Par's more expensive products, rather than the inexpensive dosage forms that were prescribed by physicians."

In September of 2012, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration accused Walgreens of endangering public safety and barred the company from shipping oxycodone and other controlled drugs from its Jupiter, Florida distribution center. The DEA said that Walgreens failed to maintain proper controls to ensure it didn't dispense drugs to addicts and drug dealers. The DEA also said that six of Walgreens' Florida pharmacies ordered in excess of a million oxycodone pills a year. In contrast, in 2011, the average pharmacy in the U.S. ordered 73,000 oxycodone tablets a year according to the DEA. One Walgreens pharmacy located in Fort Myers, FL ordered 95,800 pills in 2009, but by 2011 this number had jumped to 2.2 million pills in one year. Another example was a Walgreens pharmacy located in Hudson, FL a town of 34,000 people near Clearwater, that purchased 2.2 million pills in 2011, the DEA said. Immediate suspension orders are an action taken when the DEA believes a registrant, such as a pharmacy or a doctor, is "an imminent danger to the public safety." All DEA licensees "have an obligation to ensure that medications are getting into the hands of legitimate patients," said Mark Trouville, DEA special agent in charge of the Miami Field Division. "When they choose to look the other way, patients suffer and drug dealers prosper." The Jupiter, Florida distribution center is one of 12 such distribution centers owned by Walgreens. Since 2009, Walgreens Jupiter facility has been the single largest distributor of oxycodone in the state of Florida, the DEA said. Over the past three years, its market share has increased, and 52 Walgreens are among the top 100 oxycodone purchasers in the state, the DEA said. [48]

References
1. ^ "2011 Form 10-K, Walgreen Co.". United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
2. ^ a b c d e f "2011 Annual Report, Walgreen Co.". United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
3. ^ "Store Count by State (as of December 2012)". Walgreens. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
4. ^ "Our History". Walgreens. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
5. ^ Daniel Okrent, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (197)
6. ^ "Walgreens buys Medi Mart". Chain Drug Review. 2003.
7. ^ "Kevin P. Walgreen". Walgreens. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
8. ^ http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/081010/20081010005363.html?.v=1
9. ^ Wohl, Jessica (2009-01-26). "Walgreen picks insider Wasson to be next CEO". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
10. ^ http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2006-06-06/business/0606060110_1_walgreen-happy-harry-alan-levin
11. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r110:1:./temp/~r110iGYlpP::
12. ^ http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drugtopics/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=485816
13. ^ Brian, Chip (2009-07-10). "SmarTrend(R) News Watch: Walgreen's Opens Store in Alaska, Now Has All 50 States Covered". Fox Business. SmarTrend(R) News Watch via COMTEX. Retrieved 2009-07-13.[dead link]
14. ^ MarketWatch, "Walgreens to Acquire New York-based Drugstore Chain Duane Reade", 17 February 2010, retrieved 17 February 2010[dead link]
15. ^ "Boom! Walgreens Buys Online Retailer Drugstore.com For $409 Million".TechCrunch. March 24, 2011.
16. ^ A Refined Look
17. ^ "US retailer Walgreen buys 45% stake in Alliance Boots". BBC News. June 19, 2012.
18. ^ "Walgreens to acquire mid-South drug store chain". Drug Store News. July 5, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
19. ^ "Our Past". Walgreens. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
20. ^ "Contact Us." Walgreens. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Write Walgreen Co. 200 Wilmot Road Deerfield, IL 60015."
21. ^ "GIS Maps." City of Deerfield. Retrieved on February 5, 2011.
22. ^ "Strong medicine at Walgreens: 1,000 cuts." Chicago Tribune. January 9, 2009. News 34. Retrieved on February 2, 2011. "About 500 of those cuts will occur at the 5200-person headquarters."
23. ^ Little, Anne. "TAKING A CORRIDOR TO SUCCESS DEERFIELD'S ECONOMY BOOMING WITH OFFICE BUILDINGS." Chicago Tribune. July 8, 1987. Deerfield/Northbrook 5. Retrieved on February 5, 2011. "[...]and the corporate headquarters of Walgreen Co., which is in an unincorporated area on the western side of Deerfield, with about 1,100."
24. ^ Who Owns Whom: North America. Dun & Bradstreet, Ltd., Directories Division, 1987. "420. Retrieved on February 5, 2011. "WALGREEN CO., 200 Wilmot Rd.. Deerfield. II. 60015"
25. ^ "Deerfield village, Illinois." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 5, 2011.
26. ^ "Printer Cartridge Refills". Walgreens. Archived from the original on March 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
27. ^ "Disability Inclusion". 2011-03-09.
28. ^ "Sanborn Hermanos" (in Spanish). Sanborns. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
29. ^ "Marriott to Buy 91 Wag's Restaurants". The New York Times (Reuters). 1988-06-30. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
30. ^ "Walgreens to Harness Power of the Sun" (PDF) (Press release). Walgreens and ImaginIt. 2006-01-11.
31. ^ "Walgreens Tests Energy-Saving Ballast System". Environmental Leader. 2006-11-16.
32. ^ Wilson, Eric (2008-02-14). "And What About the Straws?". The New York Times.
33. ^ "Walgreens agrees to stop altering perscriptions [sic]". Knoxville News Sentinel. 2008-06-05.
34. ^ "The Walgreens Case". Behn&Wyetzner.
35. ^ "Walgreens to pay $35 million to settle drug-fraud suit". Chicago Sun-Times. 2008-06-04.[dead link]
36. ^ a b http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-25-08.cfm
37. ^ a b Kell, John (2012-01-13). "Lawsuit Says Walgreen, Par PharmaOvercharged".The Wall Street Journal.
38. ^ "UPDATE 1-Walgreen exiting Delaware Medicaid program". Reuters. 2009-06-04.
39. ^ http://www.chaindrugreview.com/front-page/newsbreaks/reports-walgreens-reaches-medicaid-rx-deal-in-delaware. Missing or empty |title= (help)
40. ^ Tu, Janet I. (2010-03-17). "Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16". The Seattle Times.
41. ^ "Walgreen accused of selling patient data". Reuters. 2011-03-11.
42. ^ Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-walgreen-ramps-up-for-end-of-express-scripts-deal-20111230,0,7670406.story |url=missing title (help).
43. ^ "Document Drop: Al Sharpton V. Walgreens". Daily News (New York).
44. ^ "Press Releases".
45. ^ http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/congress-of-racial-equality-core-warns-walgreens-decision-to-drop-express-scripts-will-hurt-poor-135695368.html
46. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/hispanic-leadership-fund-walgreens-dispute-threatens-health-care-150707718.html
47. ^ http://ifawebnews.com/2012/01/24/walgreen-par-sued-for-alleged-rico-violations-drug-overcharges/
48. ^ http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012/09/17/walgreens-and-oxycodone/57782912/1