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Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: May 8th, 2018, 1:07 am
by rwsandiego
Less than a year after the Walgreens/Rite Aid/Fred's deal fell apart, Fred's is selling its specialty business to CVS and looking at options for its retail pharmacy business.

Oh, Albertson's...

Re: Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: May 9th, 2018, 10:35 pm
by storewanderer
Supposedly Rite Aid has a non-compete with Walgreens in the territories sold off. That would be an overlap with most of Fred's. Supposedly...

Maybe if Albertsons could do a quick transaction...

I also wonder how that will allow for using the Rite Aid name on pharmacies in places like Colorado and Utah...

Re: Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: May 9th, 2018, 11:59 pm
by rwsandiego
storewanderer wrote: May 9th, 2018, 10:35 pm Supposedly Rite Aid has a non-compete with Walgreens in the territories sold off. That would be an overlap with most of Fred's. Supposedly...

Maybe if Albertsons could do a quick transaction...

I also wonder how that will allow for using the Rite Aid name on pharmacies in places like Colorado and Utah...
That's a good question. Maybe they can trot out Osco.

Re: Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: May 15th, 2018, 7:53 am
by Knight
rwsandiego wrote: May 8th, 2018, 1:07 am Less than a year after the Walgreens/Rite Aid/Fred's deal fell apart, Fred's is selling its specialty business to CVS and looking at options for its retail pharmacy business.

Oh, Albertson's...
Fred's loses battles in the dollar store retail industry to Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar, and it loses battles in retail pharmacy to drugstores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and wholesale clubs. I have a pessimistic outlook for Fred's, a chain that could fold.

Re: Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: May 15th, 2018, 9:47 pm
by storewanderer
Fred's spent too much time and money trying to buy the Rite Aid Stores that were to be divested. It would have been interesting to see how that would have gone, but I suspect, it would not have gone well.

Fred's isn't really a true drug store, rather, more of a poorly assorted/limited assortment Dollar General or Family Dollar that just so happened to have a pharmacy in some locations.

I suspect they see potential value in selling things pharmacy-related. Where does that leave them, though? Their front ends are super low volume...

Re: Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 4:59 pm
by wnetmacman
storewanderer wrote: May 15th, 2018, 9:47 pm Fred's spent too much time and money trying to buy the Rite Aid Stores that were to be divested. It would have been interesting to see how that would have gone, but I suspect, it would not have gone well.

Fred's isn't really a true drug store, rather, more of a poorly assorted/limited assortment Dollar General or Family Dollar that just so happened to have a pharmacy in some locations.

I suspect they see potential value in selling things pharmacy-related. Where does that leave them, though? Their front ends are super low volume...
Fred's is more of a fill-in store. Typically, they're built now to fill in where a Walmart wouldn't normally go. A non-pharmacy Fred's is a losing proposition. My local Fred's has a pharmacy, but since Walmart built around the corner, they're hurting. They cannot survive directly against Walmart. They are usually in smaller towns, and have a better assortment than the average Family Dollar or Dollar General. When you add in a high-margin pharmacy, they can succeed in most places. Columbia, Louisiana is a great example. It's a parish (county) seat, but not big enough for Walmart, though it was big enough for Howard's in the day. Fred's is their version of Walmart. They don't have to drive 30-40 miles to get cheap prescriptions or supplies. That town is Fred's niche. When they stray away from the niche or Walmart comes, they fail.

Re: Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: May 17th, 2018, 6:28 pm
by rwsandiego
wnetmacman wrote: May 17th, 2018, 4:59 pm
storewanderer wrote: May 15th, 2018, 9:47 pm Fred's spent too much time and money trying to buy the Rite Aid Stores that were to be divested. It would have been interesting to see how that would have gone, but I suspect, it would not have gone well.

Fred's isn't really a true drug store, rather, more of a poorly assorted/limited assortment Dollar General or Family Dollar that just so happened to have a pharmacy in some locations.

I suspect they see potential value in selling things pharmacy-related. Where does that leave them, though? Their front ends are super low volume...
Fred's is more of a fill-in store. Typically, they're built now to fill in where a Walmart wouldn't normally go. A non-pharmacy Fred's is a losing proposition. My local Fred's has a pharmacy, but since Walmart built around the corner, they're hurting. They cannot survive directly against Walmart. They are usually in smaller towns, and have a better assortment than the average Family Dollar or Dollar General. When you add in a high-margin pharmacy, they can succeed in most places. Columbia, Louisiana is a great example. It's a parish (county) seat, but not big enough for Walmart, though it was big enough for Howard's in the day. Fred's is their version of Walmart. They don't have to drive 30-40 miles to get cheap prescriptions or supplies. That town is Fred's niche. When they stray away from the niche or Walmart comes, they fail.
I wonder how Fred's would do in an urban setting. Like a town where Walmart will not go, many urban neighborhoods are not Walmart territory, but they might not have a pharmacy or decent general merchandise store, either. Granted, they don't seem to have urban experience.

Re: Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: February 3rd, 2019, 12:04 am
by storewanderer

Re: Fred's Sells Specialty Business and Pursues Options For Retail Pharmacy

Posted: February 19th, 2019, 11:06 pm
by Knight
Has anyone noticed Fred's Pharmacy acquiring independent pharmacies?