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Why must I always be assaulted by the putrid smells of perfume every time I enter the drug store? I’ve complained in person and via e-mail to no avail. Is anyone else tired of the “scents” every time you walk in the door?
—Anomie
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2009.
17 Comments
Maybe it’s the free to air cosmetics and Perfume testing section that your Olfactory senses are whining against. Find another drugstore to shop in. Just a thought.
…or Walmart which is probably much cheaper and less stinky. The only thing you have to smell there is desperation.
If there’s no other entrance, take your business to another drugstore. Easiest way to get your point across.
I’m not against Drug/Department stores having a scents section at all. In fact, I wear a little dab (yes a little dab, because too much is aweful!) of cologne everyday. I just can’t stand walking into a drug store, such as the recently renovated one on spring garden, or a department store, such as the large one in HSC, and being assaulted by wave after wave of terrible perfume. If they’re going to have a scents section, it should be at the back of the store.
I supervised at Shoppers for 5 years and MAN I am sick to death of this complaint…suck it up (literally) or go to another store. That’s the way they are designed. Cosmetics represent the money grab in a drugstore, that’s why its’ the first thing you often walk through when you enter, and yes I’m afraid fragrance is part of cosmetics. C’est le vie.
The whole point of a “drug store,” though, KB is that it’s a place to get DRUGS, which would denote an illness of some sort. Scents can make people very sick, and while I have no issue with the way the stores are designed, I think it’s STUPID to have the only entrance to a place hawking health-related products in the cosmetics section. Especially since hospitals and dr’s offices are all scent free.
However, in the end, said drug store is expensive as fuck and marks their prices up WAYYYYYYYYY too much…$6.99 for st ives facial scrub versus $3.99 at a store that is super (probably cheaper at wally world)…and go to Costco for your drugs. You don’t need a membership to get your prescriptions, and they’re the cheapest around (and the only “scent” that assaults you when you walk in the door is the scent of delicious french fries :P). One of my prescriptions costs 30 bucks at the drug store in question, yet only costs 20 at costco…hmmm.
oh calm down. i’m sure you and your precious nostrils will survive the assault of putrid-ness.
i go to that newly renovated drugstore on spring garden all the time and i never smell anything when i walk in. I think part of the problem is that because you know they are selling perfume, you get all upset and your precious meter goes off the charts.
in a related matter: to all people who complain about scents but wear or reek of PATCHOULI – you are hypocrites. PATCHOULI IS A SCENT. A quite offensive, intoxicating one might I add.
what makes me LOL, onetime, is when people bitch about essential oils because they’re OMG ALLERGIC TO SCENTS when the essential oil of orange, for example is just the smell of an actual orange. They go ape shit if you use an essential oil “scent” when it’s not even a scent at all! Do they get a headache when they smell an actual orange? doubtful. And that’s pretty much all essential oils are! Bah.
Oh and BTW: this certain chain of drug stores has the shittiest CS in the entire world. No use in complaining about anything — they’ll just ignore you. You could get stabbed in the face by one of their employees and they wouldn’t give two shits.
Thanks for all of your replies. I guess I will take the lady’s advise who was a mgr. there for 5 yrs. and take my business elsewhere.
Costco is a good alternative.
Regards
that being said, I do know several people who won’t shop at sears because of the marathon you need to run to get through the place without smelling like paris’ toilet water or whatever she has out now.
-I swear she spits in a jar and they fill it with skunk urine…..
It’s not just drug stores either. They also have a hard time with candle stores and the like…
Anomie: Costco really is a great alternative. They are the cheapest by far and their pharmacy staff is FANTASTIC. It’s just a little out of the way. I live within walking distance so it’s not so bad for me, but someone living DT might not want to trek all the way to BLIP to get a prescription for antibiotics 😛
I really like the pharmacy staff at the drug store in question on SGR, they’re great despite the chain being shitty at CS, but when you’re buying as many prescriptions as I do in the run of a month the savings make a HUGE difference!!!
LOL I apologize for coming off like a bitch!! After reading the later comments, I truly DO understand that scents make some people ill (although it’s a little strange as this is a fairly new illness, but I digress), but my point was that the drugstores are in it to make money and the cosmetics and frag sections are the money maker (other than the presc. of course)…
Meh, I have no loyalty there, now that I don’t get the 30% discount anymore I go wherever is cheapest!!
I’m a huge Costco fan. At least if there were some perfume samples, the place is so cavernous that the scents wouldn’t reach every corner of the store.
I love getting my prescriptions refilled there because I get to look around at the vast amounts of stuff while I wait 😛
This reminds me of a David Spade joke…”Line 3 open for 500 items or less!” My fave is the massive bundles of tube socks for $4.99.
kitty, so true about the essential oils. scent-sensitivity is such a slippery, self-righteous slope into scent-free oblivion.