Discount Drug Mart Launches Fleet of KODAK Photo Printing Solutions Throughout Ohio
ROCHESTER, NY and MEDINA, Ohio, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) announced today an exclusive, multi-year contract with Discount Drug Mart, Inc., an Ohio-owned and operated regional drug chain, that will deploy KODAK Picture Kiosk G4 Digital Stations and KODAK Adaptive Picture Exchange (APEX) thermal dry lab systems into all 70 Discount Drug Mart stores throughout Ohio.
As part of the new contract, Discount Drug Mart will be upgrading its fleet of older KODAK consumer order stations to KODAK G4 Stations, which will allow Discount Drug Mart customers to take advantage of a wide range of premium photo creation products, including KODAK Picture Movie DVDs, KODAK Picture CDs, enlargements, collage prints, calendars, invitations and greeting cards. Discount Drug Mart will also be increasing the number of KODAK Picture Kiosks per store, allowing multiple customers to experience and create prints and premium products faster and more easily. The newer G4 model can create standard 4 x 6 prints up to 70 percent faster than older kiosk systems.
“Giving our customers an exceptional photo creation experience is an integral part of our mission, and we felt that Kodak, as the market leader, best delivered that experience,” said John Graycar, Director of Photo Operations of Discount Drug Mart. “Kodak is providing both an integrated suite of photo finishing solutions and the technical and business expertise needed to enable all our locations with one-stop access to award winning photo products and services.”
The new KODAK Picture Kiosks allow customers to simply stop into the store, plug in a media card, use the G4′s fast and simple-to-use tools to select and edit photos for printing, and then instantly obtain their prints.
“Increasing customer access to fast and easy to use photo kiosks is a key to growing digital printing and adding a kiosk consistently delivers sales,” said Mike Saturnia, Director and Vice President of Sales, Eastman Kodak Company. “Kodak is proud to bring our instant kiosks, along with APEX, to help Discount Drug Mart delight its customers and grow its photo center business.”
Under the new agreement, Discount Drug Mart will also replace its AgX wet labs with the scalable KODAK Adaptive Picture Exchange dry lab system. APEX is energy efficient, consuming 70 to 90 percent less energy than comparable AgX minilabs.(1) The time required to activate, operate and maintain the system is greatly reduced due to the elimination of processing chemicals, water and other supplies used in traditional wet labs. Thanks to dry lab technology, APEX offers improved air quality and lower greenhouse gas emissions. APEX is among the most efficient and environmentally-conscious retail printing solutions on the market, due to dramatically lower utility costs and the elimination of processing chemicals.
“One of the key benefits that made APEX attractive to Discount Drug Mart is that it requires less training and labor to operate than wet labs, which will allow us to improve the efficiency and profitability of our in-store photo centers,” said Graycar.
To locate the closest Discount Drug Mart retail location, visit www.discount-drugmart.com.
About Discount Drug Mart, Inc.
Discount Drug Mart currently has 69 stores in over 20 counties across Ohio including Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. Discount Drug Mart is looking forward to the grand opening of the chain’s 70th store. The new store will be located in Eastern Cleveland and will open in the spring of 2010. The 25,000+ square foot stores stock more than 40,000 items ranging from a full service pharmacy and extended home health care department to groceries and seasonal merchandise. Recently introduced was the new generic prescription program offering customers hundreds of generic drugs for $3.99 for a 30-day supply and $9.99 for a 90-day supply. The company slogan and their well-known jingle says it all: “Discount Drug Mart Saves You the Runaround…We Have Everything You Need.” Equally important to Discount Drug Mart is its charitable, community and education related fund raising activities including cookouts at many of their stores throughout the summer, donating all proceeds to local community charities. Other fund raisers include the Muscular Dystrophy Association, American Diabetes Association and the Northeast Ohio Coats for Kids campaign.
About Kodak
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(1) Energy savings based on electricity consumption testing of Fuji Frontier 340, Fuji Frontier 570, Noritsu QSS2711, Gretag Master Lab 742 minilabs under typical print-per-day volume. Actual results may vary.
SOURCE Eastman Kodak Company