CVS Health plans to open five new locations in Chicago this year — but don’t expect to see chips, candy or nail polish for sale.
The new locations — on the South, West and Southwest sides — will offer pharmacy services only, unlike the larger stores that the company is known for. The sites represent a new tack for CVS, as retail pharmacies continue to struggle with how to best serve customers who are increasingly shopping for everyday items and medications online.
CVS Health leaders say the new locations are also meant to ensure better access to pharmacy services in communities that have faced a lack of options.
CVS unveiled the first of the sites Monday in Brighton Park at 2628 W. Pershing Road. The other four locations are slated to open this summer on South King Drive, East 71st Street, East 95th Street and West Grand Ave.
“We’re looking for geographies that lack access to pharmacy care,” said Len Shankman, CVS executive vice president and president of pharmacy and consumer wellness, who took part in a news conference Monday at the Brighton Park location.
Though there are other pharmacies within a couple of miles of the new location, that distance can be challenging for people who lack a vehicle or rely on public transportation, Shankman said. About 14,000 people live within half a mile of the new CVS pharmacy, he said. “This is really a walkable location for a large population in this area.”
In all, CVS plans to open 20 pharmacy-only sites around the country this year.
The 3,000-square-foot Brighton Park location opened earlier this month. The front of the pharmacy is compact, with four stations for dropping off and picking up medications, a few seats lined up against a window and a small consultation room for vaccinations.
The pharmacy also sells over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol and MiraLax – but they’re behind the counter, meaning customers have to ask a staff member to grab them.
The signs are in English and Spanish, and the staff is bilingual, reflecting the area, which is heavily Latino.
“It means a lot to me that CVS is investing in creating equity and parity in health,” Ald. Julia Ramirez, 12th, who was born and raised in Brighton Park, said at the news conference. “This is an immigrant community … so I appreciate not just the equity and parity of having access and this amenity but also creating language access here.”
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten said at the news conference Monday he was heartened to see CVS opening the new locations even as the federal government has been making dramatic changes related to health care.
“This has candidly been a really tough couple of years for our health care system,” said Casten, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 6th Congressional District. “… Seeing the private sector step up even as the federal government falls back is important.”
The new locations also represent a change in direction for the retail pharmacy giant, which, along with Walgreens, has faced challenges in recent years related to reimbursement rates for medications as well as competition from online stores and pharmacies.
CVS announced plans in 2024 to cut $2 billion in costs, and planned to close 271 stores across the country last year. CVS closed 10 Illinois stores last year and 16 the year before.
Similarly, Deerfield-based Walgreens announced in 2024 that it planned to close 1,200 stores across the country as it struggled with financial losses. Those closures included at least five stores on Chicago’s South and West sides last year — a move that drew criticism from local leaders.
Several years ago, Walgreens also opened a number of smaller-format stores, CNBC reported.
Walgreens, which was sold to private equity firm Sycamore Partners and went private last year, did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
In addition to the 20 pharmacy-only locations, CVS this year also plans to open about nine more traditional locations, as well as about 35 locations inside Target stores.
Given that Walgreens has recently gone private and has been shuttering many stores, it’s “logical that there would be an opportunity for CVS to expand into this vacuum a bit,” said John Harmon, a senior analyst at Coresight Research.
Smaller-format stores have become a trend in other areas of retail as well. Target, for example, has a number of smaller stores across the country.
“America is over-stored, I think,” Harmon said, adding that small-format stores can be more efficient, nimbler and “can be more localized for the neighborhood.”