CVS Pharmacy, the ubiquitous drug store, is planning an assault on upscale beauty retailers. Beauty 360 is the name of the planned stores that CVS will start opening by year’s end, according to a story Friday at WWD.com. 

Sources quoted in the story said the first two stores will open in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, will be between 2,500 and 4,000 square feet and will eventually expand to 500 or 1,000 stores.

 Beauty 360 won’t have the words CVS in sight, although they may be in adjacent buildings or inside of existing CVS stores.

The WWD story quoted a CVS executive as saying the sleek and modern Beauty 360 stores will carry 32 brands of high-end products (not counting fragrances) currently sold only in department stores or in specialty stories such as Sephora, Shoppers Drug Mart and Ulta. 

CVS execs crowed about their competitive edge in terms of sheer numbers. CVS will have almost 7,000 stores by year’s end, they have 4 million customers a day.

They said 60 percent of the U.S. population of women live within 5 miles of a CVS. Sephora’s Web site says that they are the nation’s leading retailer of perfumes and cosmetics, with more than 91 stores in the U.S. and 400 in Europe.

Perhaps the day is coming when you’ll be able to pick up some Laura Mercier or Benefit with your batteries and cough medicine.