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Way back in the 1990’s, there were 2 stores at the Maine Mall that carried cigarettes. They were CVS and Woolworth. At the time that I worked for Woolworth, there was a high amount of price competition between the companies.
When one would raise prices, the other would follow. If the price happened to go down, then same thing happened in reverse.
The reason was simple: it was a high profit product.
Despite prices at the time being less than $2 per pack, it was obvious that the market share was quickly dropping over time. It was no longer cool to smoke anywhere anymore. In fact, the only place in the mall where people could smoke was in our attached restaurant. So it was convenient for people to buy their smokes at our store rather than walking down to the other end of the mall.
It was always extremely important that the cigarette inventory was always kept up and that products were ordered when low. If nothing else in the store had strong inventories, this was the most important item we carried.
By far we sold much more than CVS ever sold mainly because of our location.
By the mid 1990’s, Woolworth had headed out of business so CVS became the only place to buy cigarettes. However, by the end of the decade CVS had left the mall leaving no store in the mall to purchase cigarettes.
What a shame that all these smokers of the mall had to leave the mall to get their tobacco fix!!
It was apparent that CVS has left many mall locations over the last decade or so, moving into self-standing stores or stores in strip malls. What is bad about that is that many more of them are getting robbed because they easier to get in and out of.
Is everyone at CVS that stupid to realize that robberies would be lower at mall stores than remote stores? Apparently not. I don’t ever remember any robberies at the Maine Mall store during its existence there.
Of course, back in the 1990’s and earlier, drugstores were robbed for money and cigarettes, not the drugs. Apparently the value of cigarettes means nothing to people anymore.
So the idea of CVS not carrying cigarettes anymore is a wonderful concept, at least initially. But why wait until October 1 to stop selling them? Are they unsure of where there future earnings will come from?
Going deep down into this idea, what about them carrying alcoholic beverages? Are they not unhealthy as well? Certainly they don’t want to lose all their profit channels so letting go of the cigarettes is still half-hearted at best.
Will other big retailers follow? I highly doubt they want to take the loss.
Speaking of loss, RadioShack has announced that it is closing 500 stores in the coming months. No word has been given as to which locations of its roughly 4500 locations will be the victims, but I would not be surprised if the Maine Mall store isn’t one of them. This one hardly has any customers anymore and is just simply dead.
But then again this company died several years ago anyway, just nobody ever told them.
And finally, a long existing store in the Maine Mall, G.M. Pollack Jewelry store has decided to close its prime retail space in the mall center court and move across the street to the Mall Plaza. Ironically, they moved into the same location that previously reviewed Newbury Comics had been located.
Do they really think they will see an increase of business by moving out of the mall traffic area? I think they will find that they did a huge mistake, but then again jewelry stores have been slipping in recent years so maybe they moved out of the mall to die once and for all.
Overall, we have 3 companies eliminating 3 different things. While I agree with 2 of the 3 eliminations, it is still up in the air as to whether they are all bonehead moves or the best idea ever.
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