CVS has acquired the retail and specialty pharmacy businesses of Midwestern grocery chain Schnucks Markets, including 99 of the grocer’s pharmacies and prescription files from 11 other locations. CVS will rebrand the in-store pharmacies as CVS Pharmacy and transfer the acquired prescription files to nearby stores.
In-store changes will be rolled out over several months after the deal closes, which is expected to happen by the end of Q2. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Although CVS already operates more than 10,000 locations, the deal will get the drugstore giant in front of more consumers in the Midwest as it continues its head-to-head nationwide battle with Walgreens. Schnucks currently operates 112 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. CVS already has gone the acquisition route before to expand, buying Target’s 1,672 pharmacies and 79 clinic businesses in 2015 for approximately $1.9 billion and operating them under a store-within-a-store format.
“One of CVS Health’s strategic imperatives is to Be Local,” said Jon Roberts, EVP and COO of CVS Health in a statement. “By opening CVS Pharmacy locations within Schnucks stores, we’re increasing access to high quality care and meeting customers where they are.”
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Schnucks said the deal fits its efforts to expand its “emphasis on health and wellness” by aligning with CVS. Both companies have eliminated tobacco from their stores, with CVS removing it in 2014 and Schnucks doing so on Jan. 1, 2020.
Following completion of the transaction, all Schnucks pharmacy customers will have access to CVS pharmacy care programs such as:
- The CVS Pharmacy app, which notifies patients when prescriptions are ready for pickup and allows them to order refills digitally; and
- CVS Pharmacy ScriptPath Prescription Schedule, a tool designed to hold the patient’s current CVS Pharmacy prescription information all in one place, including the name of each medication, when to take it and how much medication to take in each dose.
CVS Pharmacy will post all pharmacist and pharmacy technician positions and interview all Schnucks employees who apply.
