SAN FRANCISCO -- You may start seeing smaller Walgreens and CVS drugstores. Walgreens and CVS are going through rounds of closures, and thousands of other independent drugstores have shuttered over the past five years. These closures are leaving communities without pharmacies nearby.
In response, the companies are trying out new, mini stores that focus on health and wellness. MORE: Final day of business for 2 more SF Walgreens stores, another will close later this week The stores are less expensive to run and allow companies to serve areas where the population cannot support a full store. America's drugstores are testing smaller locations and more ways to offer care as price-sensitive shoppers look elsewhere.
Customers may see Walgreens stores that are one-fourth the size of a regular location or CVS drugstores with entire primary clinics stuffed inside. If these experiments succeed, the new stores might improve access to care and create a more lasting connection with customers, analysts say. "Everyone looks at health care and says, 'Oh yeah, it's a market that's ripe for disruption,'" said Neil Saunders, managing director of consulting and data analysis firm GlobalData.
"But it isn't easy to disrupt." MORE: Walgreen's slashing prices on more than 1,500 items in recognition of inflation Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth said recently that his company could close a "significant portion" of underperforming stores in the next few years. CVS Health is going through a round of closings.
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