Well bigger May no longer be better for Major US drugstores as they struggle to Keep customers who are focused on saving Money Major Brands including CVS and Walgreens are testing out smaller Locations with full-size pharmacies Inside as they bet on customers needing Them more for Health Care rather than Other basic or convenient items Fiona Rutherford joins us here in studio 57 For more on this she is a US Healthcare Reporter at bloom Fiona great to have You thanks for having me I feel like the Pharmacy experience has been Transforming between not being able to Access things on the Shelf because Everything at least here in New York Seems to be locked up uh to now this how Could smaller pharmacies help these Larger chains better with in terms of Connecting with customers exactly what You said I think going to a drugstore Nowadays has become less and less of a Positive experience for a lot of Consumers there are long lines for the Pharmacy and on the retail side like you Said at least in cities everything's Locked behind plexiglass and you have to Wait for a store attendant to open it For you um so I think the reality that These companies are facing is that a lot Of consumers are looking elsewhere to Get better deals places like Amazon.com Walmart um and so really this
Is a response these new stores are a Response to um you know having to adapt And make their store was more profitable And relevant for communities that makes So much sense I was looking for Something this weekend and I thought you Know what just wait one day and I don't Have to run around the city in this heat Amazon will deliver it EXA so you're You're right I understand why people go Less um where are we seeing these this The mini stores is it in cities or Smaller towns well this is an experiment So there are a few mini stores but there Are also different types of uh store Formats so earlier this year I got to Visit one store in Texas a Walgreens Store where they've actually flipped the Traditional business model on its head So instead of having the pharmacy at the Back of the store it's now been brought To the front and this is based on Feedback from customers that really when You go into a Wallgreens all you want is Your prescription and then you want to Get out so when you go in the pharmacy's Right there um also you have a digital Um self checkin so you can wait in a Waiting room you can wait in your car or Do some shopping um and then you're you Get a text on your phone once the Pharmacist is ready to see you so no Lines no hassle um so we'll see it's a Really interesting time for pharmacies
Um to see how these experiments shape The future of drugstores yeah I mean It's so right I can't imagine how many Times that you go when you're where is The pharmacy they're all lined up I mean They're all lined and mapped differently Um I understand that Walgreens is Planning to shutter more than 2,000 Underperforming stores CVS is also Al Closing some Nationwide stores and wrate Declared bankruptcy is this the end of The drug pharmacy that we've known for Decades it's still to be seen really It's just a response to what we were Talking about they have to remain Relevant but the one thing that these Companies have going for them at least Walgreens and CVS is that they have this Huge store footprint across the US so It's really about using that real estate To their advantage and you could see That they're moving away from their Retail routs and investing in different Parts of Health Healthcare more Lucrative parts of healthare so Primary Care Centers um Home Health Walgreens is Even um investing in a clinical trial Business so this will change the way That pharmacies look but the the exact Way it will look who knows we'll see It's a drugstore after all thank you so Much Fiona great to have you
