Shopping Discussion

Rexall Sold to US Health Firm for $3 Billion

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  • Mar 4th, 2016 8:39 pm
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Deal Expert
Dec 26, 2010
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Store locator says we have one in Thunder Bay. There are more indie pharmacies in Thunder Bay but SDM dominates and are in every corner of the city. I like their electronics section and food sales and clearance. Probably why I've not shopped at Rexall and assumed we didn't have one...
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Dec 26, 2010
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shawn01 wrote: Soon Canada won't have any Canadian companies lol
It's the Canadian way
Not so! We have indie phamarmacies up here and I would assume, in other cities the same. You just have to look...
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Mar 17, 2006
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eventually, everything will be americans. let's just hope it wont happen when Trump is the president
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Feb 9, 2012
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Esteban Pirazo wrote: would this be part of an strategy to counter-balance the big momentum the loblaws-shoppers drugmart transaction generated?
Metro would have been smart to buy Rexall, or maybe the new owner of Rexall should buy Metro to better compete with Loblaws/Shoppers.

I wonder what Metro will do now?
Deal Fanatic
Nov 11, 2008
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playnicee1 wrote: Here in Ontario, Rexall went insane with expansion...and here's the most insane thing! In many cases, they deliberately opened up across the street from SDM.

A really good example is out in Scarborough, Ontario, where Shoppers decided to leave a strip mall and open up a larger store (built from scratch) across the street.
Then, only a short time later, Rexall swooped in and not only took over the old SDM space, but also renovated to make it look fresh and new, possibly expanding to eat up some rental space to the left and right of it, making it a bigger store than the former Shopper's drug mart location.
Competition can be brutal sometimes. lol
Which location was that?

The one at Markham and Ellesmere and VP between Ellesmere/Lawrence is always dead. Would not be surprised if they closed down... I swear the location on VP south of Eglinton was going to be one, but they decided last minute to sell it off when they were building it? The building looks exactly like one, but I don't recall them officially opening?

Brimley/Eglinton and Birchmount/Sheppard has decent traffic just because of Canada Post.
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Jun 30, 2006
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A bunch of Rexall stores within my area have undergone huge renovations and have expanded the store. Looks like they are doing well. Store is not super busy when I go, but with the high prices they don't need to be super busy with enough foot traffic.
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Jun 9, 2003
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carmaster wrote: A bunch of Rexall stores within my area have undergone huge renovations and have expanded the store. Looks like they are doing well. Store is not super busy when I go, but with the high prices they don't need to be super busy with enough foot traffic.
drug stores shouldnt be super busy...
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Jul 7, 2003
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T dot 6
With the high US dollar vs Canadian, US companies will continue to buy.
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DougO wrote: Not so! We have indie phamarmacies up here and I would assume, in other cities the same. You just have to look...

What drug stores are those? Surprise surprise they're owned by Rexall, no doubt.
I was deeply saddened when I recently learned that my friend's Surry drug mart in Scarborough is now actually an IDA, which in actual fact is Rexall owned, since Rexall owns IDA.
It was independent since the beginning of time. (at one point it even maintained the name of the actual owner!)
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Feb 9, 2012
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EPcjay wrote: Which location was that?

The one at Markham and Ellesmere and VP between Ellesmere/Lawrence is always dead. Would not be surprised if they closed down... I swear the location on VP south of Eglinton was going to be one, but they decided last minute to sell it off when they were building it? The building looks exactly like one, but I don't recall them officially opening?

Brimley/Eglinton and Birchmount/Sheppard has decent traffic just because of Canada Post.
The location on VP near Ellesmere is land that was originally owned by McDonald's. When McDonald's moved to Parkway mall, the deal was, as long as they (McDonald's) have no competition, who cares who owns the land, so now Rexall either rents from McDonald's, or actually owns the land there. If the store flops, McDonald's is always willing to help them out in effort to secure that another burger chain does not get that land.

As for best example of my original point, yes I do mean the location on Eglinton @ Brimley.
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Dec 26, 2010
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playnicee1 wrote: What drug stores are those? Surprise surprise they're owned by Rexall, no doubt.
I was deeply saddened when I recently learned that my friend's Surry drug mart in Scarborough is now actually an IDA, which in actual fact is Rexall owned, since Rexall owns IDA.
It was independent since the beginning of time. (at one point it even maintained the name of the actual owner!)
Here's one:

http://www.janzens.ca

Not owned by Rexall. 5 locations. I looked up several others...
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Dec 7, 2012
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GTHA
playnicee1 wrote: What drug stores are those? Surprise surprise they're owned by Rexall, no doubt.
I was deeply saddened when I recently learned that my friend's Surry drug mart in Scarborough is now actually an IDA, which in actual fact is Rexall owned, since Rexall owns IDA.
It was independent since the beginning of time. (at one point it even maintained the name of the actual owner!)
fyi, Rexall sold the brands I.D.A.™ and Guardian® to McKesson Corporation on January 30, 2012.
from https://www.mckesson.ca/news-releases/- ... anada-inc-
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Apr 22, 2015
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I go Rexall more often since it's one block close to me.
English is not my first language, please bear with me
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Feb 9, 2012
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DougO wrote: Here's one:

http://www.janzens.ca

Not owned by Rexall. 5 locations. I looked up several others...
For some strange reason, the further away from Toronto you are, the better the chance of finding a smaller company still alive.
Toronto is a very different story though. Most of the little guys are now gone. If they're still around, they're most likely owned by Rexall.
There isn't even a Jean Couteau here!
At least there's still Pharmasave.
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Oct 1, 2011
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I hope this move is blocked.

I believe the Loblaws/Shoppers deal should have been blocked, too, but this one is more serious because McKesson is a major wholesaler and distributes prescription drugs (and other items) to almost all the pharmacies around. There is a huge conflict of interest if they purchase Rexall...who's to say that backorders, shortages, etc. won't preferentially be given to Rexalls and the other pharmacies will be left out to dry? So people's healthcare concerns will be affected significantly by which pharmacy they go to? That's not right...

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