Save Mart closing pharmacy

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Alpha8472
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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by Alpha8472 »

It was a mistake for Save Mart to close their pharmacies. The pharmacies attract customers to shop in the store. Save Mart will lose customers and other chains will gain customers. I suspect that Walmart will probably gain many customers. Costco might gain some customers, but Costco does not accept many insurances. Costco also closes on Sundays and closes earlier than other pharmacies at 7 PM.
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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 7th, 2022, 2:06 am It was a mistake for Save Mart to close their pharmacies. The pharmacies attract customers to shop in the store. Save Mart will lose customers and other chains will gain customers. I suspect that Walmart will probably gain many customers. Costco might gain some customers, but Costco does not accept many insurances. Costco also closes on Sundays and closes earlier than other pharmacies at 7 PM.
Somehow they needed to retain a pharmacy presence in stores that did not have a drugstore within eyesight... should have figured out what pharmacies were profitable and which were not and closed the unprofitable ones like Raleys did.

Be it leasing the thing out to another chain to run pharmacy, leasing it out to an independent pharmacy, something, anything, to keep pharmacy in the store. A complete and total screw up.

Still waiting to see how they handle Sonora where there is no Walgreens nearby (40 miles away)...
Petaluma appears to have been told tough luck and go 9 miles to the nearest Walgreens in Cotati. I am sure Safeway will gladly take care of them in Petaluma.
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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

Already, Citrus Heights Dewey is already rolling out the carpet to the pharmacy customers of the Manzanita save Mart even though the latter is a lot closer to other pharmacies (not just the Rite Aid a short jog away but also the Bel Air across the stroad)than either Dewey or even 6325 fair oaks which may be low volume based on short pharmacy hours.Wonder where the Sacramento Gerber prescriptions went to,they have Rite Aid next door and the egf Walgreens is still quite a ways.

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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

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norcalriteaidclerk wrote: September 26th, 2022, 12:55 pm Already, Citrus Heights Dewey is already rolling out the carpet to the pharmacy customers of the Manzanita save Mart even though the latter is a lot closer to other pharmacies (not just the Rite Aid a short jog away but also the Bel Air across the stroad)than either Dewey or even 6325 fair oaks which may be low volume based on short pharmacy hours.Wonder where the Sacramento Gerber prescriptions went to,they have Rite Aid next door and the egf Walgreens is still quite a ways.

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Gerber prescriptions went to Walgreens at the NW Corner of Franklin and Mack. But it is my understanding the Save Mart prescriptions can be accessed at any Walgreens. The challenge is of course waiting in the line at Walgreens and hoping they accept your insurance and if you are, you know, a UFCW member, a State of Nevada employee, etc. you will not have your insurance accepted at Walgreens and be in for a very rude awakening.
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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by bryceleinan »

storewanderer wrote: September 26th, 2022, 10:45 pm
norcalriteaidclerk wrote: September 26th, 2022, 12:55 pm Already, Citrus Heights Dewey is already rolling out the carpet to the pharmacy customers of the Manzanita save Mart even though the latter is a lot closer to other pharmacies (not just the Rite Aid a short jog away but also the Bel Air across the stroad)than either Dewey or even 6325 fair oaks which may be low volume based on short pharmacy hours.Wonder where the Sacramento Gerber prescriptions went to,they have Rite Aid next door and the egf Walgreens is still quite a ways.

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Gerber prescriptions went to Walgreens at the NW Corner of Franklin and Mack. But it is my understanding the Save Mart prescriptions can be accessed at any Walgreens. The challenge is of course waiting in the line at Walgreens and hoping they accept your insurance and if you are, you know, a UFCW member, a State of Nevada employee, etc. you will not have your insurance accepted at Walgreens and be in for a very rude awakening.
I’m still bitter about what Walgreens did to Bi-Mart, let alone Save Mart. I wound up transferring everything to Safeway because they’re the only accessible pharmacy on my plan if I travel to the Bay Area or to Oregon, heard the same from others. One of my coworkers was steamed over Save Mart closing, he’s now dealing with the mess of Smith’s in Dayton.
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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

storewanderer wrote:
norcalriteaidclerk wrote: September 26th, 2022, 12:55 pm Already, Citrus Heights Dewey is already rolling out the carpet to the pharmacy customers of the Manzanita save Mart even though the latter is a lot closer to other pharmacies (not just the Rite Aid a short jog away but also the Bel Air across the stroad)than either Dewey or even 6325 fair oaks which may be low volume based on short pharmacy hours.Wonder where the Sacramento Gerber prescriptions went to,they have Rite Aid next door and the egf Walgreens is still quite a ways.

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Gerber prescriptions went to Walgreens at the NW Corner of Franklin and Mack. But it is my understanding the Save Mart prescriptions can be accessed at any Walgreens. The challenge is of course waiting in the line at Walgreens and hoping they accept your insurance and if you are, you know, a UFCW member, a State of Nevada employee, etc. you will not have your insurance accepted at Walgreens and be in for a very rude awakening.
That Walgreens at 4495 Mack was unfortunately the same location that bought the files for the ill-fated Payless at 4020 Florin in early 2018).I wish RAD simply sent the files to a go-forward location no matter how distant it was(nearest operating RAD locations are at 980 Florin,4980 Freeport,and 7860 Gerber;the 7900 Florin location closed in February 2019).

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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: September 26th, 2022, 10:45 pm Gerber prescriptions went to Walgreens at the NW Corner of Franklin and Mack. But it is my understanding the Save Mart prescriptions can be accessed at any Walgreens. The challenge is of course waiting in the line at Walgreens and hoping they accept your insurance and if you are, you know, a UFCW member, a State of Nevada employee, etc. you will not have your insurance accepted at Walgreens and be in for a very rude awakening.
If they were the ones that TOOK your prescription, tell them they HAVE to take your insurance or else they get charged for breaking the law. Not like you were given a CHOICE of where it went, they TOOK IT FROM YOU! If they didn't want to take certain insurances, they need to tell the company they are buying from and have those people's information sent to some place that will take it!
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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: September 27th, 2022, 1:49 pm

If they were the ones that TOOK your prescription, tell them they HAVE to take your insurance or else they get charged for breaking the law. Not like you were given a CHOICE of where it went, they TOOK IT FROM YOU! If they didn't want to take certain insurances, they need to tell the company they are buying from and have those people's information sent to some place that will take it!
This would be an interesting law and would have been an even better law 20 years ago when there was so much pharmacy merger activity going on. It probably would have stopped some deals.

I think I'd settle for disclosure upon customer notification of the prescrpitions being transferred. Supposedly customers receive a letter in the mail or receive an e-mail. It goes something along the lines of: We have closed Big Store Pharmacy 9999 at 999 9th Street and sold all prescription files to Linegreens. Your prescription will be available at any of the 7,500 Rudegreens locations Nationwide, many of which are open 24 hours (until they randomly close due to a staff shortage). Based on information provided to us as of (date sale is announced), we have determined that your current insurance plan is/isn't currently accepted by Rudegreens.
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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by storewanderer »

bryceleinan wrote: September 27th, 2022, 7:05 am

I’m still bitter about what Walgreens did to Bi-Mart, let alone Save Mart. I wound up transferring everything to Safeway because they’re the only accessible pharmacy on my plan if I travel to the Bay Area or to Oregon, heard the same from others. One of my coworkers was steamed over Save Mart closing, he’s now dealing with the mess of Smith’s in Dayton.
Wal Mart, Rite Aid, Kroger, Costco all accessible... Safeway is far from the only option. If you dealt with the Safeway Pharmacy on Mae Anne in Reno, featuring a 1.6/5 Google Review that is even worse than the worst CVS or Walgreens, you'd be gone from them too. Of that list my observation is Wal Mart and Costco have the best and most reliable service.

Also if you do mail order prescriptions couldn't you go into one of the participating pharmacies out of town to obtain a prescription if need be (they'd call the mail order pharmacy to verify it/transfer over the refill)?

At this point I think mail order is the way to go.

Once Rite Aid gets its staffing problems figured out they need to go on the offensive to try and get some prescription volume back that I suspect they've lost due to not being open due to not being staffed. I think Save Mart did them some huge favors throwing some staff their way who wanted to stay under UFCW and hope that staff will stick around.
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Re: Save Mart closing pharmacy

Post by bryceleinan »

Problem I have is some of the places I go, there is no Walmart or Costco, which is the case with some of these smaller pharmacies closing - it becomes an access issue, like the Save Marts in Sonora or Petaluma where the closest Wags is miles away.

Mail order works, but not for all people. I tried it a couple of times, and after the second time they got lost at the local post office, I gave up.
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