Walgreen Rolls out More Delish Upscale Private Label Chainwide

October 5, 2010

In late June, Walgreen announced it would rollout the Duane Reade DR Delish brand chainwide, but it was unclear at the time if it planned to drop the “DR” part of the label.

delish In August is appeared it would be keeping the entire label branding when it rolled out DR Delish snacks and beverages. But this month, the company said it pans to expand the Delish brand (sans DR), adding seven more products to 6,000 stores including organic maple cookies, gluten-free ginger snaps and multigrain crisps drizzled with chocolate, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business report.

Walgreen acquired Duane Reade earlier in the year and said from the outset that it was impressed with the New York-based chain’s sophisticated private label line. Two-thirds of Walgreen’s profits are derived from its pharmacies, so its April acquisition of Duane Reade, with strong merchandise sales, is a good fit.

Duane Reade’s private label expertise was lauded last week by Walgreen CEO Gregory Wasson during a call with analysts: “We're really enthusiastic about the opportunity . . . to drive private-brand penetration and the learnings that we're able to bring back from Duane Reade to help us.”

But Walgreen is no private label slouch with upwards of 18 percent of merchandise sales derived from store brand, according to the report.

When Walgreen acquired 257-unit Duane Reade, the chain had just revamped its DR Delish store brand and expanded it to 100 food products.

“If you add Duane Reade's front-end focus to our pharmacy expertise, it's a powerful combination,” Mark Vainisi, director of mergers and acquisitions for Walgreen Co. told Crain’s. “We don't have the market cornered on good ideas, and we were eager to learn from their success.”

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Keywords: delish, duane reade, premium private label, private label food, walgreen

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