To Whom it May Concern,
I am long-time and somewhat sporadic customer of your stores. I remember having a Shoppers Drug Mart in my neighbourhood as a child, sterile and over-white, with cheap Christmas gifts and a large pharmacy.
Frankly, the Shoppers Drug Mart was never the place I went for everything I needed, but when I felt sick, or needed a prescription filled, your institutional white floors and buzzing overhead fluorescent lighting called to me. I knew that I would be able to find what I needed, at a fairly decent price.
But as I became older, you began to change. Suddenly, the Shoppers down the street had an entire grocery section and started to sell digital cameras. Odd, I thought, that someone would shop there when Shoppers insisted on building their new stores next to preexisting grocery stores, but I paid it little mind.
Frankly, the Shoppers Drug Mart was never the place I went for everything I needed, but when I felt sick, or needed a prescription filled, your institutional white floors and buzzing overhead fluorescent lighting called to me. I knew that I would be able to find what I needed, at a fairly decent price.
But as I became older, you began to change. Suddenly, the Shoppers down the street had an entire grocery section and started to sell digital cameras. Odd, I thought, that someone would shop there when Shoppers insisted on building their new stores next to preexisting grocery stores, but I paid it little mind.
And then one day, it happened.
I walked into a store and assumed I must have taken a wrong turn. I retraced my steps, but found only one path leading from the front entry way. I searched in vain for a hidden switch along the wall, or a copy of InStyle Magazine I could pull to reveal a dark passage to the main floor of the store.
Cautiously, I followed the trail laid out for me, and confirmed my worst fears. The entry to the store led to one point and one point only: The Makeup Section.
I've been to other, newer, stores, and this design is repeated again and again. I have only one question – is it your intention to lose business?
I walked into a store and assumed I must have taken a wrong turn. I retraced my steps, but found only one path leading from the front entry way. I searched in vain for a hidden switch along the wall, or a copy of InStyle Magazine I could pull to reveal a dark passage to the main floor of the store.
Cautiously, I followed the trail laid out for me, and confirmed my worst fears. The entry to the store led to one point and one point only: The Makeup Section.
I've been to other, newer, stores, and this design is repeated again and again. I have only one question – is it your intention to lose business?
As a man, I have no need for makeup products, and thus no need to enter via that section. Ever. I do not buy makeup products for my wife, as that would result in her returning them and marvelling at my lack of a color palette.
Oh but the women! The women, I hear you cry. Are you serious? Most people come to the Shoppers Drug Mart to buy drugs or health products, not cameras, or their weekly groceries, or makeup. Further, many people come into your store sick.
Oh but the women! The women, I hear you cry. Are you serious? Most people come to the Shoppers Drug Mart to buy drugs or health products, not cameras, or their weekly groceries, or makeup. Further, many people come into your store sick.
Do you really believe they want to be greeted by the dead-eyed overly made-up harpies that guard your borders when it took them all the courage they had simply to leave the house in the hope that no one would notice them so they could quickly get their medicine and return home to a warm blanket?
And if your intention was to limit thievery by making a choke point entry to the store, does it really make sense to force people into the section of the store containing some of the most expensive items there? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no.
And if your intention was to limit thievery by making a choke point entry to the store, does it really make sense to force people into the section of the store containing some of the most expensive items there? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no.
Shoppers Drug Mart, shame on you. No one is served by this change, and it is totally ridiculous. You know it. I know it. Just give it up. I, the women of the country, and the overburdened and overly madeup makeup staff of your stores will thank you.
Warmest Regards
Warmest Regards
Letter Sent 6:57pm Dec 2, 2009
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