News broke Tuesday that Walgreens has reached an agreement to buy Rite Aid, in a deal that would spawn a new pharmacy juggernaut.
The deal won’t close until the second half of 2016, so it’s too early to know what changes Walgreens has planned.
The company has already alluded to a “harmonized portfolio of stores and infrastructure,” a line that probably sounds nice to investors and ominous to employees.
With a merger on the horizon, it’s worth taking a look at where Walgreens and Rite Aid pharmacies are located in Kitsap, and where stores may be in direct competition.
The two chains have a combined 10 stores in Kitsap, as far as I can gather, with another Walgreens under construction on Bainbridge Island. The map embedded below shows the locations, with Rite Aids in blue and Walgreens in red.
Some of these stores are spaced so tightly you’ll have to zoom in to see them clearly:
As you can see, Rite Aid and Walgreens stores are close neighbors in West Bremerton, Port Orchard and Silverdale. The stores on Bainbridge Island will also be intimately situated once the Walgreens there is completed.
The green pin on the
map represents the CVS pharmacy in Poulsbo,
which opened a year ago.
Its presence is worth noting because CVS will be the only major standalone pharmacy chain left to compete with Walgreens/Rite Aid once the merger is approved.
CVS is a newcomer to Washington State, but nationally the chain commands a 58 percent market share based on revenue, according to USA Today. Walgreens has a 31 percent share and Rite Aid trails with 10 percent.
CVS recently bought all of Target’s in-store pharmacies and plans to begin operating them.
I have a couple questions about this merger. I was a customer at Walgreens pharmacy until they no longer accepted Molina as my insurance company. I then switched to Rite Aid because they did accept Molina. My question is this, When this merger deal does close, will I still be able to fill my prescriptions at Rite Aid? Also what will the merged Rite Aid stores be called?
Your question about what insurance plans will still be accepted is an excellent one. I’m afraid it may be too early to answer at this point, but I’ll see what I can find out.
Walgreens has said Rite Aid will keep its name to begin with, but the stores may be rebranded down the road.
Thank You. I will be curious what you eventually find out. My Dr. is with Group Health and they are able to send prescriptions to Rite Aid. I use the Rite Aid on Kitsap Way. I live just a couple blocks away. If I will no longer be allowed to use The Rite Aid Pharmacy, I will then just have to have my prescriptions filled at the Group Health in Silverdale.
What they want to do and what they are allowed to do may be two different things. Witness the Albertsons/Safeway monopoly busting. Could be an opportunity for CVS to pick up some new locations.