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Target is one of those stores that allow customers to do one stop shopping. You need a table? Come to Target! It’s your son’s birthday and you need to get him a present? Come to Target! You need to buy food to cook for the party? Come to Target! Anyway, you get the point. I always assumed that while it may not have the largest selection of shoes, for example, it’ll have enough so that you get a nice comfortable pair at a decent price.

Now, I’m not the most-frequent Target shopper. I rarely go to the doctor (knock on wood) and so I rarely need to go fill a prescription. When I do, I go to CVS simply because that’s where my parents have always gone. So this may be old news to most but I was completely shocked to find CVS inside Target. Since this is my first semester in an apartment and off of the university dining plan (yay!), this is the first semester that I have to get groceries. And, since the university asks us to pay an upwards of $500 for an annual parking permit, I am car-less. As a result, I only have one grocery shopping option: Target.

Walking up to Target, I was surprised to see the letters CVS written in a big font against Target’s windows. I have no idea what it replaced but I’m pretty sure that there was some type of Target pharmacy before the implementation of CVS. While they are clearly not direct competitors, they do have some aspects that overlap. Here’s briefly why I think this is an odd combination:

1. Target is giving CVS free brand recognition. By adding CVS to Target stores, Target shoppers who shopped anywhere other than CVS for their pharmacy needs are now inclined to go to CVS. That way, they can keep their documents and loyalty points in one place.
2. CVS is giving Target free sales. No matter how free a pharmacy is, they always make you wait at least twenty minutes. During that time, customers can either sit in the handful of chairs by the counter and wait or they can browse a bit. With CVS in a Target, CVS only gets the revenue from the medication while Target gets the extra browsing revenue.

So now it makes me wonder, why would I ever go to a proper CVS again when I can go to Target and get some grocery or clothes shopping done in the meantime? What are your thoughts?