Amidst the economic recession

Something that caught my attention:
I was at a meeting with the Dean of the School of Pharmacy and some of my student peers and we were discussing ways to raise money for our end of the year party. The Dean suggested to ask for a corporate donation. And that there was one company in particular who was doing extremely well despite the current economic situation and that they are the ones we should approach if any (from a pharmacy perspective). She was talking about Giant Eagle. This raises a lot of business questions in my head. Why Giant Eagle over a country-wide chain like Walgreens? Is it because they are locally owned and operated? Are their pricing plan and FuelPerks offering that much more of an advantage? How have they built a better “pharmacy” reputation when they are better known as a grocer? Or are people overlooking this fact and other factors are more important to their decisions as consumers?