Digital Pharmacy

CVS Corp. (Woonsocket, R.I.) announced plans to roll out Kodak Digital Stations at more than 3000 of its stores nationwide. The rollout, to be completed by mid-summer 2003, will make CVS the first national chain to offer customers the opportunity to print from digital media including camera cards, CDs and disks in all of its photo lab stores.

CVS has already successfully tested digital printing solutions from Kodak in several pilot markets. CVS customer research indicates that there is a strong demand from consumers for photo-quality digital printing at retail.

“Women are the memory keepers,” says Judy Strauss Sansone, vp of merchandising/photo for CVS. “Our customers don't want their memories stuck on hard drives. CVS is providing them with a convenient and affordable solution that enables them to enjoy their digital images just like traditional photos — to frame, store in albums and share with family and friends.”

At the new Kodak Picture Maker Digital Station, customers insert a digital media card and use a simple touch screen to preview and select the photos they want to print, choose sizes and quantities and make image enhancements such as red-eye reduction. The Digital Station accepts CompactFlash cards, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Secure Digital (SD) and multi-media (MMC) card formats, Picture CDs and picture disks. Images will print while the customer shops and be ready for pick-up upon checkout.

“Kodak believes getting high quality pictures from your digital camera should be as easy as dropping off a roll of film,” says Scott Auer, general manager and vp, output, consumer imaging, US&C Region, Eastman Kodak Co. “Kodak and CVS together are making this a reality.”