Mar 10, 2009

Hospitals in Michigan look to shops for revenueBy Patricia AnstettFreeP.com

Don’t be surprised to visit a hospital and be able to walk out with a mattress or a Honey Baked Ham.

Borrowing a page from airports and shopping, hospital systems are expanding, renovating and taking back their retail and food operations from outside vendors and hospital auxiliaries, or working with volunteers to introduce retail concepts.

Amid lean times, they are finding that there’s money to be made from selling plush bathrobes, jewelry, take-out ethnic foods and birthday cakes.

Henry Ford West Bloomfield, a $350-million hospital that epitomizes the new trend, doesn’t open to patients until Sunday, but already is seeing brisk sales to visitors and people with outpatient appointments for hypoallergenic lipsticks, cancer books, plush bathrobes and Mrs. Meyers cleaning products, said retail manager Meghan Rossi.

The hospital’s Sleep Well store sells hypoallergenic and natural fiber mattresses starting at $3,199 and lavender and aloe-scented pillows at $79 to $109.

St. Joseph Mercy, near Ann Arbor, is midway through an expansion of its food and gift offerings.

Last year, the hospital moved a food kiosk that sells specialty coffees, sandwiches and soups to a prime front-door location, a move and expansion that brought $100,000 in revenue from a single location, said Pam Misener, system integration leader at St. Joseph Mercy.

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