CVS Health Monday unveiled the first of nearly 20 pharmacy-only, apothecary-style CVS Pharmacy locations it plans to open this year to increase access to pharmacy care. In this photo is the interior of the first such new pharmacy opened this year at 2628 West Pershing Road on Chicago’s West Side.
CVS Health
CVS Health is pushing forward with plans to open nearly 20 smaller “pharmacy-only” stores by the end of this year.
The healthcare giant Monday opened the first such pharmacy-only store this year on Chicago’s West Side where access to healthcare and pharmacy services can be a challenge. Executives said the new pharmacy will “help bridge gaps in care” and make it easier for people in the community to access medications, vaccinations and other healthcare services.
“Pharmacists are among the most accessible and most trusted health care providers,” said Len Shankman, CVS Health executive vice president and president of pharmacy and consumer wellness. “We know how important it is for patients to be able to speak one-on-one with their pharmacist, have their questions answered and seek medication advice when needed. Our new, pharmacy-only locations allow our pharmacy teams to continue to build relationships with patients – their friends and neighbors – and provide on the ground pharmacy care in communities that need us.”
New and smaller formats are not new for either CVS or rival Walgreens, which was opening “small stores” in 2019.
But the push for new sizes and formats has taken on more urgency because both companies have large amounts of debt and face escalating pressure from flat or falling sales of general merchandise in the front of their stores.
Each new CVS pharmacy-only site, which averages around 3,000 square feet, features a full-service pharmacy with a “customized selection of over-the-counter products” that are available for purchase, CVS executives said. Such pharmacy-only stores are less than half the size of a traditional CVS.
The rollout of the smaller format stores comes as traditional larger drugstores face competition and struggle to increase revenues in the front of the store where they sell more general merchandise. And CVS, which operates more than 9,000 retail pharmacies across the country, is looking into new models of healthcare delivery when it comes to retail pharmacy as more Americans shop online and health insurers and employers squeeze what they reimburse for prescription drugs.
CVS executives say the pharmacy-only locations are part of the company’s effort to “reinvent pharmacy.” The company’s other pharmacy models will continue to exist and include:
CVS Pharmacy’s traditional full-service front store and pharmacy locations; “store-in-store pharmacies” like those in Targets and Schnucks grocery stores; CVS Pharmacy stores that include MinuteClinics staffed by nurse practitioners; and reformatted stores that include both a CVS pharmacy attached to an Oak Street Health care center.
“We believe health care is best delivered locally, in the community by trusted, caring and tech-enabled colleagues and our customers and patients want to shop and engage in the way that’s most convenient for their busy lives,” Shankman said. “Whether in-person, online, or a combination of the two, our community pharmacies are delivering best-in-class service through consistent, connected, personalized experiences – meeting consumers where, when and how they need us.”
CVS said the major rollout this year will include opening pharmacy-only locations in several other cities including Detroit, Houston, Roxbury, Mass., and Brooklyn, New York.