Crummy Variety Store
With 50 outlets in the District, CVS has a near monopoly on drugs, cough syrup, hair spray--and customer dissatisfaction.
Cover Story
With 50 outlets in the District, CVS has a near monopoly on drugs, cough syrup, hair spray--and customer dissatisfaction.
Photographs by Darrow Montgomery
On South Capitol Street SW, a consumer's nirvana has taken hold.
Eight cash registers sit atop a red counter ready to ring up purchases. Rows upon rows of shampoo, conditioner, soap, and laundry detergent are all placed neatly on their shelves, each label facing forward. The cosmetics displays are pristine--no crumbling pots of eye shadow or half-empty lip-gloss testers that bored teenage girls have dug their fingers into. Every greeting card is in its proper place--no birthday cards mixed in with the anniversary cards. Nothing spills into the aisles, and enthusiastic clerks will soon replenish the few items that are out of stock. The pharmacy is fully stocked.
And then the clincher: There is no line at the register.
This is CVS: clean, uncluttered, and welcoming.
Wait a minute: CVS is never clean, uncluttered, and welcoming. This seemingly perfect store is not an actual drugstore at all, but a "mock store" inside the CVS/Pharmacy Regional Learning Center, located at the end of a sleepy strip mall. The store is used to train new employees of Washington's most prevalent chain drugstore. None of the beautifully arranged items in this fantasy land are for sale. "We actually have people come in and try to buy things all the time," says Caroline Garrett, the manager of the center. "They think that it's an actual store."... Continued 
Issue of Mar. 1 - 7, 2002
News and Features
- Crummy Variety Store
Cover Story - Finial's Wake
The City - Parks and Wrecks
The City - Power Lines
The City - Pick a Number--Any Number
The City - Eat the Rich
The Mail - Do You Know the Muffin Man?
The Mail - Bread and Circuses
The Mail - Self-Rising
The Mail - The Staff of Life
The Mail - The Hole Picture
The Mail - No End in Sight
The Mail
Columns
- Where the Boys Are
Cheap Seats - The Green Bile
City Desk - White and Blue
City Desk - Fight Club
Loose Lips
Eats
Movies
- Asia Major
Film Review - Near Diarist
Talking Pictures - Dragonfly
Film Review - We Were Soldiers
Film Review
Music
- Old-School Master
Acts Locally - Youth Gone Bad
Music Review
Theater
- Thrice-Told Tales
Theater Review - Issue Alert
Theater Review
Arts and Events
- Limited Partnership
Art Review - Rocket From Russia
Opera - Comic Relief
Arts - House and Home
Artifacts - Bloc Printing
Artifacts
City Lights
This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.
- Her Space Holiday
City Lights - Six by Sondheim
City Lights - Leonard Downie Jr. and Robert Kaiser
City Lights - Life Lived in Shade: Photographs of India by Pradeep Dalal
City Lights - Doll
City Lights - DC Independent Film Festival
City Lights - Bobby Manriquez
City Lights - Tadao Ando
City Lights - 27th Annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair
City Lights - God Forbid
City Lights - The Who's Tommy
City Lights - Solas
City Lights - The Bat Whispers
City Lights - French Kicks
City Lights
Find an Event
Select the type of event, and the particular day this week below.
Submit your event to the City Paper's Event Calendar.
Find a Restaurant
Enter a restaurant name, or select a cuisine and neighborhood below.
Find a Movie
Select a movie theater in the box below to see a list of all movies at that theater.
...Or view a full list of theaters, films, and showtimes.
Search Classified Ads
Post a Classified Ad
Search inventory on the City Paper's CarTango website:
This Week in
City Paper History
- Exit Strategy
Nov. 26 - Dec. 2, 1999 - Midget Wrestling
Nov. 26 - Dec. 2, 1999 - Soulsby on Ice
Nov. 28 - Dec. 4, 1997
