Thursday, December 04, 2008

CVS and Detroit

Trips to CVS (or Walgreen's or Rite-Aid for that matter) in Detroit are a rather unpleasant experience. It gives me great pain and discomfort to hear god-awful white pop music blaring in the aisles at its many Detroit locations. I've always noticed the lack of 24-hour stores in the city limits (only 4 in all Detroit compared to 44 in the suburbs). The drug store chains have a love/hate relationship with Detroit. They love to be the only stores where health and other products are available in many neighborhoods. They hate to serve these neighborhoods late at night, or in ways that promote the dignity and respect of their customers.

A new campaign, called "Cure CVS" is online at www.curecvs.com.

The campaign has released a study that documents a number of city/suburb disparities in major U.S. metropolitan areas, including Detroit. Among the Detroit findings from survey of 206 metro stores:

CVS stores in minority communities had 65 percent more health violations than stores in white communities.

CVS charged more for items than posted or advertised prices.

Security is heightened in Detroit, with more guards and items like infant formula and condoms kept in locked cases, making it difficult to compare prices.

One store per 30,000 residents in Detroit, compared to one store per 9,000 residents in Northville and Northville Township.

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