7,000 times two: WAG, CVS hit milestones
NEW YORK Drug Store News hits your hands, it is likely that a few more openings will have taken place, so who will tout the largest store base on this Oct. 12 issue date? The reality is that it doesn’t really matter.—Within the span of just one week, leading pharmacy retailers CVS Caremark and Walgreens celebrated the opening of their 7,000th stores. By the time this issue of
With healthcare reform hanging in the balance, rising healthcare costs and a physician shortage hampering access to care, the landscape of retail pharmacy isn’t what it used to be. Today, it isn’t necessarily size that matters, but the quality of care and services offered to help patients with their health and wellness.
CVS celebrated on Sept. 24 the grand opening of its 7,000th store in Little Canada, Minn. The new store marked the company’s 41st location in the state, and the 7,000th store since the retailer first opened its doors in Massachusetts in 1963. The company entered Minnesota five years ago.
Just one week later on Oct. 1, Walgreens celebrated the opening of its 7,000th store in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Coney Island-themed event featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony, free health screenings, giveaways, food and entertainment. Over the past nine years, the 108-year-old company has made it well known that its goal was to operate 7,000 stores by 2010.
While 7,000 stores undoubtedly is a significant milestone for both retailers, at the end of the day it’s their aggressive steps to position themselves on the frontlines of health care that sends a powerful message to U.S. health officials about the important role that community pharmacy can play in the nation’s healthcare system.
This is no secret to CVS and Walgreens. “Retail pharmacies and PBMs are on the frontlines of health care, and CVS Caremark is in a great position to help with the healthcare solution,” Tom Ryan, chairman, president and CEO, told analysts during the company’s second-quarter conference call on Aug. 4. “Our clinical focus on disease management and adherence programs, and wellness programs, fits nicely with many points of healthcare reform.”
Echoing that sentiment, Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson told Drug Store News in a recent interview, “the sands are shifting in our industry because of healthcare reform, and changes are taking place,” he said. “And the good thing is, when the sands do shift, it certainly causes uncertainty, but it also creates openings and advances the profession in a meaningful way.”
Those openings create “a huge opportunity for community pharmacists to step up and play a role, and be recognized as a nonphysician healthcare provider,” Wasson added. “They are in the community, and they are the most accessible, trusted healthcare professional. So I think it’s time for the community drug industry to really push the idea of community pharmacists playing a greater role.”
With their 7,000 stores (likely 7,000-plus by the time this issue is printed), retail-based health clinic subsidiaries, PBM businesses and, of course, the thousands of healthcare professionals they employ, both Walgreens and CVS have a massive health-and-wellness operation that has raised the bar for retail pharmacy.