retailer profile
Walgreens
BY CHARI T Y B URNS
Name: Walgreens
Founded: 1901 on Chicago’s South Side
Boasts: 7,000th store opened in October in Brooklyn, NY
Today, with thousands of stores serving customers in every state, Walgreens is known
for its dependability and the remarkable value it provides to customers. A reputation
like this is not built overnight—it is, for Walgreens, the hard earned result of a century’s
worth of dedicated service to the American consumer. The chain began in 1901 when
Charles R. Walgreen Sr. bought the store where he had been working, a retail space no
larger than 50 by 20 feet on Chicago’s South Side. An Illinois native, Charles Walgreen
began working in drugstores at the age of 16 in his hometown of Dixon. Though
Walgreen earned a mere $4 per week and left the position after six months, the drugstore business would be his livelihood for four decades as he planted the seeds of a family business that would blossom into one of the country’s most vital drugstore chains.
Walgreens Going
Even
Maintaining the
Over the years, Walgreens has earned
a glowing reputation as a green company. As Jurczyk explains, “Walgreens
has always sought out technology that
would improve or reduce energy usage.”
The drugstore chain is currently in the
process of implementing an energy
management system to improve its
overall carbon footprint. The new system, which will control store temperatures and lighting as well as enable the
Facilities Department to run preventative checks on equipment, promises to
be a big step forward in reducing both
energy and repair costs.
As the saying goes, it may take a village to
raise a child, but it takes an army of dedicated workers to keep a thriving retail
chain fully operational. Jurczyk’s department received 280,000 repair requests in
the 2009 fiscal year. When a store submits
a repair request—whether it is for a broken
water pipe or a faulty air conditioner—a
Walgreens field mechanic or, if necessary,
a third party contractor is contacted.
According to Jurczyk, “We have approximately 241 field mechanics stationed
around the country. They are the front
lines for us. They do an amazing job. We
have always found that they’re our most
economical way of handling repairs.”
Greener
Retail Chain
62 I Professional Retail Store Maintenance • www.prsm.com
Steve Jurczyk,
Director of
Facilities Management
at Walgreens
Responsible for: Overseeing
280,000 repairs in the 2009 fiscal year
Hobbies: Coaching little
league and playing acoustic
guitar
Like the Walgreens founder,
Steve Jurczyk was born and
raised in Illinois. Jurczyk began
his career for the drugstore chain
seventeen years ago, working his
way up the ranks of the Facilities
Department until, four years
ago, he became the Director of
Facilities Management. Heading
a team of 19 Regional Facilities
Managers, Jurczyk is responsible
for the smooth running of all
Walgreens facilities, including
corporate offices, district offices,
distribution centers, and the
7,000 stores across the nation
and in Puerto Rico. Off the job,
Jurczyk unwinds by spending
time with his family, coaching
his daughter’s softball team and
playing acoustic guitar.