Grocer Stop & Shop Joins Growing Trend of Closing Pharmacies

Independent pharmacies are not alone in fighting to remain in business with the COVID pandemic accelerating industry-wide economic pressures.

According to news reports circulating this week, the Stop & Shop banner of Ahold Delhaize USA plans to shutter 19 pharmacies over the next several weeks. The East Coast pharmacies will close in stages by early November, a move attributed to declining prescription reimbursements by private and government third party payors

Ahold Delhaize USA is the parent company for Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. companies, consisting of Food Lion, Giant Food, The Giant Co., Hannaford, and Stop & Shop, as well as e-grocer Peapod; Retail Business Services, a U.S. support services company providing services to the brands; and Peapod Digital Labs, its e-commerce engine.

In January 2021, the ShopRite supermarket banner announced that it was closing pharmacies at 62 of its stores across Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. Pharmacy customers at those locations had their prescriptions filled instead at nearby CVS pharmacies, to whom ShopRite has sold some of its pharmacy business.

Intermountain Healthcare planned to close 25 retail pharmacies and entered into an agreement to transfer prescriptions and inventory to CVS Pharmacy® in Utah in August 2021. The closures will affect Intermountain retail pharmacies located in Utah with low usage by area residents.

Intermountain will continue to offer medication management services and medication assistance and financial support services. Intermountain will continue to operate home delivery pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, and the retail pharmacy at Primary Children’s Hospital.

 

Takeaway: A number of pharmacies are working to change their businesses to adapt to the post-COVID environment