Vitamin World
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| Private | |
| Industry | Retail |
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Number of locations
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446 (March 2011) |
| Owner | Center Lane Partners |
| Website | www |
Vitamin World is a retailer of vitamins and nutritional supplements in the United States.
Vitamin World was acquired by private equity firm Center Lane Partners in 2016.
Vitamin World was founded in 1960 by Arthur Rudolph and is headquartered in Bohemia, New York. Vitamin World was a subsidiary of NBTY Inc. NBTY Manufactures and sold its products under the Vitamin World, Holland and Barrett, and Puritans Pride labels. Vitamin Worlds are the North American retail stores, Holland and Barretts are the United Kingdom retail stores, and Puritans Pride is an online / catalog phone ordering division.
Most divisions sell similar products but cater to different customers. Vitamin World sells many of its own supplements under the "Vitamin World", "Herbal Authority", and "Precision Engineered" brands. General vitamins and minerals are sold under the "Vitamin World's" brand. Herbs, teas, and natural beauty products are sold under the "Herbal Authority" brand, and sports nutrition products are sold under the "Precision Engineered" brand. Vitamin World sells products from third party vendors, the majority of which are sports nutrition products from big companies.
Through the end 2007 Vitamin World was a "bargain" supplement store, offering buy 1 get 1 half off and buy 1 get 1 free sales for all of their store brand items. Forcing stiff competition from internet bargain leaders, Vitamin World underwent a "format" change beginning in January, 2008, when they adopted the "Get Healthy" slogan.
The "Get Healthy" days brought many changes to the stores: The store logo was redesigned from the green 1970's style lettering and changed to all blue letters on a white background. The "world" part of the logo changed from white and green to a gradient rainbow color-scheme. All bottle labels are re-designed featuring colorful new labels and see-through colored bottles that correspond to the category of supplement to which they belong. During this period prices were also raised. Vitamin World also offers a "Savings Passport" card to customers that requires a minimum purchase and gives cardholders discounts on most items.
Vitamin World's new Pricing Strategy has now positioned them slightly up-market. They are generally cheaper than General Nutrition Centers. In Mid 2008 Vitamin World also invested heavily in associate training in an attempt to increase customer satisfaction. This is referred to as the "Vitamin World Commitment". Along with the VWC, sales associates were given scripts to follow that word-by-word examples of how to execute the new customer service strategy.
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