cwervo

Hydration for the rest of us

I was browsing the Walgreens by Union Square (TODO: link/add pic on Google Maps) and I wanted some hydration supplements. I’ve been using Liquid IV and LMNT for a few years now and got obsessed with hydration science a bit when I got COVID. When I noticed a few years ago Liquid IV had a bunch of sugar I switched to LMNT, though I now use both (because they have differences).

Anyway, back to my Walgreens trip:

picture of vitamins / allergy aisle

I got the section of the store and noticed it’s expanded rapidly since the last time I can into a convenience store (CVS, Walgreens, Duane Reed)! In this post I want to talk about what’s on these shelves, what’s good, what’s bad, & what’s interesting.

TODO:

Big shelf overview (outline sections & number/label them in Figma)
The good (market analysis 2024)
The bad (the expense / the sugar — well, it’s not all bad (link to research on sugar and hydration in extreme situations like athletes experiencing heat stroke or people who are going through mortally dangerous dehydration))
The interesting (new player, upper market, higher class hydration at Walgreens, still not as expensive as LMNT (double check?)
Conclusion: It’s interesting to see as we near the end of 2024 that hydration had gone from a boutique experience or niche athlete/nerd thing to something that’s in mid market (CostCo) and low market (CVS, Walgreens) stores.