The nation's largest drugstore chain unveiled a new store brand called Nice! as it mothballs an assortment of a dozen in-house brands and refocuses its private-label strategy.
The Nice! brand name, two years in the making, began to appear on Walgreens store shelves last month on food products from soup to nuts. The rollout of more than 400 items, mostly grocery and paper products, is scheduled to accelerate this month and wind up at all 7,742 Walgreens and Duane Reade drugstores nationwide by January.
The move comes as retailers from Costco Wholesale Corp. to Macy's Inc. beef up their house brands as a way to stand out from their competitors, build a consumer following and boost profits. Not only do retailers generate higher profit margins on products they make and sell themselves, but the most successful store brands, among them Costco's Kirkland Signature and Trader Joe's, can generate a fan base that keeps returning to the stores.
Walgreen Co. has no small ambitions for its Nice! line. The Deerfield-based chain brought in former Kraft Foods Inc. executive Maurice Alkemade in 2009 to create the program. Alkemade, a 14-year-Kraft veteran, most recently managed Kraft's business with Target. His goal at Walgreen: make Nice! a $1 billion-a-year brand.
As part of the makeover, Walgreen is phasing out in-house brands, including Deerfield Farms, W, Cafe W, W Ultra and Chief Karlin. The Walgreens label will also disappear from food and household products but remain on health and wellness items.
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