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Stores like Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc. primarily exist - to me at least and I think to many - to fill prescriptions. The pharmacy segment accounts for around 65-

Stores like Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc. primarily exist - to me at least and I think to many - to fill prescriptions. The pharmacy segment accounts for around 65-70% of Rite Aid's revenue. I think the stores are closing because the costs of prescriptions keep going up, insurance is paying less, and the people who depend on those prescriptions are going elsewhere; Amazon, Walmart, etc. If drug costs were lower then we would see more independent pharmacies, and probably more chains, but in this economy..

nradov 2y ago
For retail pharmacies the problem isn't so much the cost of prescription drugs but rather the impact of PBMs on the industry. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2019/apr/pharmacy-benefit-managers-and-their-role-drug-spending https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2019...
bpev 2y ago
I never really ever went to Rite Aid except for, as a kid, we went to go there to get Thrifty Brand Ice Cream. It's actually pretty decent, and they'd always use a giant scoop.
- darknavi 2y ago
  Very neat, I've never seen a Rite Aid with an ice cream area.
bongodongobob 2y ago
I think it may be even higher than that. I worked for ShopKo ~15 years ago and I seem to remember optical and pharmacy being like 85% of sales.
rincebrain 2y ago
I was frustrated with my local Duane Reade's failures, randomly marking scripts as "call us to fill" when I tried to fill them online, only to then say "oh yeah it'll be ready in XYZ" "can you tell me why you made me call you?" "no it just does that sometimes." So I tried a bunch of local pharmacies, which were all much worse experiences in various ways (failure to fill scripts because they couldn't source things, their online systems straight up didn't work, the lines to pick things up were very long...) Then I tried Capsule, which was great...at first. Then one day, they completely failed to deliver a med I was about to run out of, and their "24/7 live chat" took 4+ hours to respond that they couldn't get it to me until after I would have missed a dose, and when I replied to that, got an automated message that it was closed for the day. So now I just suck it up and deal with the Duane Reade, because there is so much further down to go.

nradov 2y ago

For retail pharmacies the problem isn't so much the cost of prescription drugs but rather the impact of PBMs on the industry. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2019/apr/pharmacy-benefit-managers-and-their-role-drug-spending https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2019...

bpev 2y ago

I never really ever went to Rite Aid except for, as a kid, we went to go there to get Thrifty Brand Ice Cream. It's actually pretty decent, and they'd always use a giant scoop.

darknavi 2y ago
Very neat, I've never seen a Rite Aid with an ice cream area.

bongodongobob 2y ago

I think it may be even higher than that. I worked for ShopKo ~15 years ago and I seem to remember optical and pharmacy being like 85% of sales.

rincebrain 2y ago

I was frustrated with my local Duane Reade's failures, randomly marking scripts as "call us to fill" when I tried to fill them online, only to then say "oh yeah it'll be ready in XYZ" "can you tell me why you made me call you?" "no it just does that sometimes." So I tried a bunch of local pharmacies, which were all much worse experiences in various ways (failure to fill scripts because they couldn't source things, their online systems straight up didn't work, the lines to pick things up were very long...) Then I tried Capsule, which was great...at first. Then one day, they completely failed to deliver a med I was about to run out of, and their "24/7 live chat" took 4+ hours to respond that they couldn't get it to me until after I would have missed a dose, and when I replied to that, got an automated message that it was closed for the day. So now I just suck it up and deal with the Duane Reade, because there is so much further down to go.