Vitamin Shoppe Interview

I visited the Vitamin Shoppe in Ann Arbor and asked about Group Awesome's three herbals : black cohosh, Glucosamine, and Milk Thistle. I asked my questions from the perspective of a pharmacy student and not a customer. I asked four main questions to the manager. 

What do you know about the products?

Every employee are very knowledge about the three products in terms of general usage and alternative products that do similar actions. If they did not know the exact mechanism, they had a reference book on the counter for customers. The manager stressed the fact that they are not prescribing any of the herbals. They do understand there are limitations to the clinical research behind these products and encourage their customers to talk with their doctor and/or pharmacist about the herbals. 

How did you deal with potential interactions with other herbal products? with prescription medications?

The manager showed me an extensive database that was accessible at the store-level and from their website. The database was very user-friendly where customers can simply type in their medication and it would give a list of herbals that would interact with it. Below is a screenshot for a customer on warfarin. (You have to click on Safety Checker that takes you to the page with a list of medications)  

How knowledge are the customers when they come into the store?

The regular customers knew what they wanted when they came into the store. However, the new customers usually would have an idea what they want to treat but do not know what is the best product to pick. The manager stressed the point that a lot of customers would rather take a herbal over prescription medications based on the perception they are 'safer'. 

How are the employees educated with the products?

All employees are required to attend Vitamin Shoppe University, a series of online courses and/or modules where they learn almost all the products indications. Not all products are taught. The manager did not give the time frame employees need to be enrolled for prior to working on the floor.

Overall, they were very receptive to a pharmacy student asking information about the function of the store. They gave a lot of information. But I also got the impression there was a strong emphasis that they work with healthcare workers and strongly stress they do not do any prescribing, as if they are "playing their part". There were a lot of traffic the time I went in, so I could not observe how the employees gave out advises.