Retail Watchers

This cannot be good news for Shopko:
Kroger buying part of Shopko Pharmacy records

A spokesman for Roundy’s said Kroger’s Dillon’s, Fred Meyer, Smith’s and Roundy’s divisions will receive the prescription file purchase. The acquisition affects 42 Shopko locations; Wisconsin will receive the majority of the file buy with 25 Shopko stores.

And Hy-Vee is also buying some Shopko pharmacies.

I guess the cash from selling the pharmacies will carry them for a while longer... but pharmacies drew foot traffic and historically that was a strong area for Shopko...

News link: https://amp.jsonline.com/amp/2340452002

So....are they closing all pharmacies or only select stores? One article I have read said all were closing, while others are only mentioning specific locations. I have not heard anything about WA/OR/ID pharmacies aside from the stores themselves that are closing.

EDIT: I found an article that lists the stores in Boise and Nampa as being transferred to Kroger, as well as stores in Lacey and Yakima, WA. But no mention about other stores which operate in Kroger (Fred Meyer) markets such as Salem and the rest of Oregon, as well as other locations in Idaho such as Pocatello/Chubbuck.

I was at Smiths in Murray today and they have signage all over the store welcoming Shopko Pharmacy Customers.

It looks like Shopko is also quietly closing another store in Boise:

https://boisedev.com/news/2018/12/23/sh ... gqvbpBPYMs

This one was not part of the original list.

The article also mentions that they have changed their mind about closing the Bonners Ferry location.

It is interesting they were able to reverse the decision to close Bonners Ferry. Maybe the money from the pharmacy sales are allowing them to prop things up a while longer. Or they had a good holiday season (I hope...).

storewanderer wrote: ↑December 27th, 2018, 6:29 pm It is interesting they were able to reverse the decision to close Bonners Ferry. Maybe the money from the pharmacy sales are allowing them to prop things up a while longer. Or they had a good holiday season (I hope...).

What is interesting though is how they decided to keep Bonners Ferry open while deciding to close a Boise store instead. The Boise store, on Fairview, was Shopko's first location in Boise, and opened around the same time as the Nampa location. The Broadway store opened in the early 1990s. It's worth noting that when Shopko entered Boise in 1986, Kmart was present, but Walmart and Target had not arrived yet, Fred Meyer was just establishing themselves with a mix of new-build superstores and acquired Grand Central locations, and Boise did not even have an enclosed mall yet. Things have changed considerably.

It will be interesting to see if Shopko shifts any more of the closures around like this.

Interesting article about what's going on with Shopko, which also mentions a possible bankruptcy filing coming soon:

https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/st ... 514157002/

Shopko is closing six more stores:

https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/st ... 536476002/

This isn't a good sign.