PHARMACIES: Drive-Through Windows On The Rise

      Two of the nation's largest drugstore chains are finding that drive-through prescription windows send "profits through the roof," the Bridgewater Courier-News reports. CVS and Eckerd's have found that "[r]evenues can increase 30% when a drug store adds a drive-through," according to Eckerd's spokesperson Tami Alderman. She said that the chain has built 510 drive-through windows since the early 1990s and "will continue to build more drive-throughs as its drug stores move from shopping centers to free-standing buildings." The Courier-News reports that grocery stores, which compete with pharmacies for sales of prescriptions, food, cosmetics and other items, "are using their clout to boot drugstores from shopping centers," which "often forces stores to build a free- standing store, where the national chains install drive-through windows to entice harried customers" (Hitchner, 11/22).