If you’ve walked through Tribeca, chances are you’ve come across an aesthetically-pleasing drink shop called The Drug Store. When walking in, you’ll be greeted by three coolers lined top to bottom with drinks. What you won’t be greeted by? A cashier.
In this shop, you just help yourself, and the company trusts you to text them what you had.
Located on 293 Church Street, The Drug Store comes from beverage company Iris Nova and uses a unique text-to-pay system.
“The process is seamless: a customer walks in, takes product from the fridge, and sends a text message,'' says Iris Nova CEO Zak Normandin. “Our customers prefer conversational interaction, and we’ve established a frictionless transaction process that eliminates all unnecessary steps.”
Offering best selling Iris Nova drinks such as Dirty Lemon, a line of drinks based around lemon juice and natural health supplements, the store’s physical location allows for instant convenience while allowing Iris Nova to test out new drinks before releasing them on a national scale.
Shop visitors can purchase new Iris Nova launched beverages like Minna sparkling teas, Asian-inspired Sanzo fruit water, organic Halo Sport drinks, and premium Miracle Seltzer.
Focused on customer convenience, the store’s drinks are restocked daily and have radio-frequency identification tags to collect consumer data which gauges what drinks customers prefer.
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Although many would suspect that basing a shop off of honesty would lead to theft, The Drug Store has been proud of the trust it has built with customers.
“We have very little theft, arguably no more than any convenience store in the city,” says Normandin. “We've seen less than 5% theft since opening, with tens of thousands of customers stopping by and attribute this to the brand loyalty and community we’ve built.”
