Independent Pharmacists Fight Discriminatory Health Plans

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Pennsylvania pharmacists are up in arms over a new health plan for state workers that bars them from filling prescriptions at locally owned drugstores, requiring instead that they use Rite Aid or a mail order service. The plan is run by a pharmacy benefit management company (PBM), which the state says will reduce costs by negotiating lower drug prices. In exchange, employees must accept restrictions on where they fill their prescriptions. … Read More

California Appeals Court Upholds Formula Business Law

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A California Appeals Court has upheld a local ordinance restricting the proliferation of formula retail businesses in Coronado, a city of 24,000 people near San Diego. The court ruled that the ordinance does not violate the US Constitution’s commerce and equal protection clauses, and is a valid use of municipal authority under California state law. The ordinance, enacted in December 2000, requires anyone seeking to open a formula retail business to obtain a special permit. … Read More

Vote on Federal Sales Tax Fairness Bill Likely in Early 2004

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Legislation introduced in Congress that would require internet retailers to collect state and local sales taxes stands a fairly good chance of passing in the first few months of 2004, according to supporters of the bill.

The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Byron Dorgan (D-SD) and Michael Enzi (R-WY) and in the House by Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA), gives Congressional approval to a national compact made up of states that have simplified and aligned their sales tax rules and regulations.

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Irish Pharmacies Call for Limits on Corporate Ownership

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) has asked the government to adopt restrictions on the ownership of pharmacies similar to regulations in place in most European countries. The IPU favors restricting pharmacy ownership to pharmacists, and capping the number of pharmacies any pharmacist can own at five. Eleven of the fifteen European Union countries, including France and Germany, have similar laws prohibiting corporate chains from operating drugstores. … Read More

Malaysia Freezes Hypermarket Construction

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Malaysia has placed a five-year ban on the construction of hypermarkets in Klang Valley, which includes Kuala Lumpur, and the states of Johor and Penang. New guidelines also lengthen the approval time for developers seeking to build hypermarkets in other areas from four months to two years.

Hypermarkets are stores larger than 8,000 square meters (86,000 square feet) that sell both department store merchandise and groceries, similar to Wal-Mart supercenters.… Read More

Austin Coalition Forces Wal-Mart Retreat, City Agrees to Big Box Study

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Faced with strong opposition from a broad array of organizations and residents, Wal-Mart has abandoned plans to build a 24-hour supercenter on an ecologically sensitive site in southwest Austin. The 43-acre wooded tract sits over the Edwards Aquifer, the largest underground reservoir in Texas. It feeds Barton Springs and supplies drinking water to thousands of people. Initially, opposition to Wal-Mart centered on its choice of location and the impact polluted parking lot runoff would have on the aquifer. … Read More

California Communities Embroiled in Supercenter Debates

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Voters in Contra Costa County, California, will decide in March whether to keep a law banning supercenters from unincorporated areas in the county. Contra Costa County is home to about one million people and lies east of the San Francisco Bay area. The law, which was approved unanimously by the County Board of Supervisors in June, prohibits stores over 90,000 square feet that devote more than five percent of their floor space to groceries. … Read More

Big Box Wins and Losses on Election Day

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Voters in Lakeway, Texas, about 20 miles west of Austin, overwhelmingly rejected a resolution to allow the construction of a 48-acre shopping center anchored by a 184,00-square-foot Wal-Mart store. The election drew the largest turnout in Lakeway history with residents voting 1,880 to 749 to block the development by retaining the town’s current 100,000-square-foot size limit on retail stores. The city council had earlier voted to lift the size cap and grant preliminary approval to the project. … Read More

Alabama Citizens Sue to Block Wal-Mart Giveaways

Date: 1 Nov 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Owners of a small business in Birmingham, Alabama, near the site of a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter, have filed suit against the city for giving the retailing giant a $10 million subsidy. Southeast Meats of Pelham, in operation for over two decades, contends the handout gives Wal-Mart an unfair advantage. The suit also asserts that the city improperly threatened to use eminent domain to force owners of the Wal-Mart property to sell.… Read More

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