This Grocery Store Chain Is Shutting Down Over 60 Pharmacy Locations
Wakefern Foods Corp., the owner of the grocery chain ShopRite, is shutting down 62 store pharmacies in the Northeast and has sold its customer lists to CVS.
The company owns and operates over 250 ShopRite stores in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Customers say they found out abruptly when picking up prescriptions, and employees said they thought impending news was going to be about COVID-19 vaccines, but found out about the closures on a conference call, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The news comes just a few weeks after ShopRite announced on Jan. 4 that 39 pharmacies in New Jersey would be distributing COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare workers. (Related: The Saddest Restaurant Closures In Your State.)
The move is a signal that the ShopRite chain can't keep up with large rivals like Walgreens and CVS, Grocery Dive says. The convenience store chain has made similar deals with retailers in the past. Target operated over 1,600 pharmacies in its stores until 2015 when it sold them to CVS. This deal with ShopRite, though, includes closing the pharmacies instead of an ownership change.
CVS says it will consider all pharmacists and employees for local CVS locations. Other support staff will be eligible for other positions at the grocery store chain. Store managers say they hope the vacated space will be turned into spaces for local businesses to sell beer, wine, or takeout, the newspaper says.
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