New York — Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to open as many as 700 doctors’ offices in its drugstores over the next five years and invest $1bn in primary-care provider VillageMD over the next three, the company said on Wednesday.
Drugstores are under pressure to re-invent themselves as e-commerce companies such as Amazon gobble up sales of everyday items, and digital pharmacies threaten the prescription drug business. Walgreens, based in Illinois, intends to open between 500 and 700 Village Medical clinics over the next five years in more than 30 markets, with more than 50% of the sites located in areas designated as medically under-served. The size will vary, though most will occupy about 25% of the store’s footprint, Gourlay said.
Clinics will be installed in stores where pharmacy sales tend to be strong and sales of products in the front of the store, such as toothpaste and sweets, lag, Gourlay said. The five pilot locations have seen rising prescription and health-product purchases while sales of convenience items fell, he said.