For many decades, if not for centuries, American drugstores surprised foreigners by offering a multitude of various goods for sale throughout the store, with a small cubicle, almost as if by an afterthought, dedicated to drugs.

The 1950’s soda fountains were, undoubtedly, the predecessor of the social media of the 21^st century, with gossip traded as intensely as it is shared on TikTok today.

But as the times change, so do the habits of the buying public.

Thus, CVS Health plans to open small stores that eliminate many of the items that are currently found on the shelves of drug store chains.

The retail pharmacy and health care giant will introduce a small-store format (less than 5,000 sq. ft) that offers a full-service pharmacy, as well as some over-the-counter medications, but will not include merchandise such as greeting cards and groceries. Neither do they plan on reviving the soda fountains, to our great disappointment.

The move comes as the retail drug store industry has faced a number of challenges in recent years, including low reimbursement rates for filing prescriptions, increased online competition and softer discretionary spending.

Thus, the new format, expected to get the retailers more $$$ per square foot and cut down on wasteful expenses. We can only hope it’ll work as expected.

Still, hope is only good when it’s supported by hard work, and in the retail industry the hardest, never-ending work is learning about the needs of your customer and trying to satisfy them to the max.

This approach is called KYC (Know Your Customer). In retail, KYC means knowing the things about your customers that will help you better satisfy their needs and wishes.