The Rite Aid/GNC partnership helps to differentiate Rite Aid's dietary supplement offering from chain competitors CVS and Walgreens, and affords GNC an opportunity to extend its brand name beyond the mall stores and strip centers where GNC stores are located. "Once again, our exclusive GNC store-within-a-store performed better than the overall vitamin category," reported Mary Sammons, Rite Aid president, chief executive officer and chairman, during a conference call last month discussing the retailer's third-quarter results. "We added 60 more during the [third] quarter [of fiscal 2008], bringing our total of GNC departments to almost 1,400."