RETAIL NEWS

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the eventual demise of independent community pharmacy are exaggerated. Not just exaggerated, but wildly inaccurate.

Thrifty White Pharmacy has been around in one form or another since the 1880s, but you wouldn’t know its age by the Plymouth, Minn.-based chain’s efforts at bringing its engagement-focused patient care to as many patients as possible. At the start of this year, the company — which Drug Store News named its Pharmacy Innovator of the Year in 2016 — unveiled its new Healthy Outcomes Diabetes Support Program, through which it partners with employers and providers in the communities its stores serve to help maximize health outcomes among diabetic patients.

Giant supermarket operator Kroger views health and wellness as an area for long-term investment, a point underscored by its purchase last year of specialty pharmacy ModernHEALTH. Even as it faces headwinds related to food deflation, Kroger is keeping an eye on growth opportunities in its expansive market area, which includes 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Walgreens Boots Alliance in the past year has implemented “a new way of thinking” across the upper echelons of the company. “We’re focused on working in partnership to provide a better, more efficient and more effective approach [to health care] within the United States,” Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance, told shareholders earlier in the year.

Drug chains are editing existing product assortments to clear more space for up-and-coming brands that court back shoppers who may have migrated to specialty stores. Several categories are heating things up in the beauty aisles, especially Korean beauty. Kline research reveals the category is growing at a 30% annual clip, and chains are seeking the right items to introduce more shoppers to the innovative and effective Korean entries.

If you could pick only one headline regarding CVS Health over the past year, the conversion of all 1,669 pharmacies and 79 clinics acquired from Target in 2015 to CVS Pharmacy locations would be a good one. To be sure, those efforts are paying off. In the former Target pharmacy locations, script counts are up, CVS Health president and CEO Larry Merlo told analysts during a February earnings call.

Ahold Delhaize entered 2017 as a newly combined global retail powerhouse that is pursuing a range of initiatives to advance pharmacy and health-and-wellness strategies in the United States. The merger of the European-based Ahold and Delhaize formed Ahold Delhaize last July, producing a giant entity with 6,500 stores in 11 countries.

The nation’s leading warehouse club operator continues to push into new markets with a determined expansion program both in the United States and internationally. In the process, Costco Wholesale also is extending its reach into the market for pharmacy and preventive health services, surging past the 500 mark in total pharmacies operating in the United States and expanding its menu of health screenings, immunizations and clinical-care offerings.