CLEVELAND — Max-Wellness announced this morning it will partner with Lake Health, a private community health care provider in Northeast Ohio, on the launch this summer of a Mini-Max store concept designed to be located in hospitals and rehab centers.
The new Mini-Max will have a smaller footprint — 600 sq. ft. — than the health-and-wellness retailer's first four stores, which opened in 2010 in two Cleveland locations and in Sarasota and Naples, Fla. Between 5,000 and 6,000 sq. ft., those stores carry some 7,000 products ranging from nutritionals to footwear and DME including bath safety, incontinence supplies and mobility aids such as walkers and wheelchairs.
Lake Health operates two acute care hospitals and 13 other health care sites, including urgent care and physical therapy locations, in Lake County, Ohio, near Cleveland. The first Mini-Max will debut in Lake Health's West Medical Center, an acute care hospital in Willoughby, Ohio.
Even though they will be smaller, Max-Wellness CEO Michael Feuer said "a complete selection of DME will be available" at the new Mini-Max stores. Feuer co-founded OfficeMax, which he began with one store in 1988 and sold in 2003 for $1.5 billion.
Max-Wellness and Lake Health officials will collaborate on a product offering for the Mini-Max that includes "head-to-toe care tailored to the needs of patients at West Medical Center," according to the companies.
Max-Wellness associates will staff the Mini-Max to help patients and caregivers with products for continuing care after discharge. The stores will also feature products that should draw hospital visitors and employees, according to a spokesperson.
"Based on experience gained in this first location at Lake Health, it will be the model for future Mini-Max stores expected to open in hospitals throughout the country," Feuer said.
Wherever a Mini-Max store is located, Max-Wellness may also add another concept called "Wellness-in-a-Box," a computerized dispensing device similar to a vending machine that features health-and-wellness products.
"This allows wellness products to be available at other locations within a hospital, near adjacent or nearby medical office areas of the hospital and outside the Mini-Max during non-store business hours," said Feuer. The self-service dispensers are also slated for urgent care centers, senior living facilities and airports, with merchandise customized to meet the specific needs of customers in each particular venue.
Max-Wellness recently launched an e-commerce site and also plans to add more of its larger brick-and-mortar stores this year, the chain's spokesperson said.
For more on Max-Wellness, see "Taking HME to the Max," November 2010.