CVS Closing Dozens of Pharmacies Inside Target

[storewanderer]

Every Target I have visited had a very busy Target Pharmacy.

Not so with CVS inside Target, and I have been in many Targets since I never ever go to Walmart.

How much of this do you think is related to the fact that we are observing California locations? I think it's pretty obvious that nobody was happy when CVS took over and destroyed the well-liked Sav-On and Longs chains, and that likely drove a lot of traffic to alternatives like Target before they too were sucked into the CVS cesspool.

I don't think that has anything to do with this. I think customers have moved on from Sav-On and most of the people who really liked Longs have probably passed away by this point as it was a store loved by the 75+ year old crowd but no young people liked that store. But at least someone loved Longs. Nobody seems to love CVS. CVS has earned its reputation based on the inefficient pharmacy service it provides. The inefficient service is due to disgustingly understaffed stores. Further disdain from customers comes from knowing they are forced to use CVS through insurance (half of them probably don't know CVS owns Caremark too, they'd be even more angry if they knew that) despite that it is very slow with very long lines, inconsistent/shorter hours of operation than it had a few years ago... That is all on CVS.

If you really want to have fun go over to the CVS Reddit where employees post. The complaining about budget cuts on an ongoing basis is unreal. But that is why the pharmacy operations are so poor with such long wait times. You'd think a company who designed a PBM/insurance system forcing customers to use its pharmacies would bulk up staffing at the stores. But instead these guys cut staffing.

[ClownLoach]

Every Target I have visited had a very busy Target Pharmacy.

Not so with CVS inside Target, and I have been in many Targets since I never ever go to Walmart.

How much of this do you think is related to the fact that we are observing California locations? I think it's pretty obvious that nobody was happy when CVS took over and destroyed the well-liked Sav-On and Longs chains, and that likely drove a lot of traffic to alternatives like Target before they too were sucked into the CVS cesspool.

I don't think that has anything to do with this. I think customers have moved on from Sav-On and most of the people who really liked Longs have probably passed away by this point as it was a store loved by the 75+ year old crowd but no young people liked that store. But at least someone loved Longs. Nobody seems to love CVS. CVS has earned its reputation based on the inefficient pharmacy service it provides. The inefficient service is due to disgustingly understaffed stores. Further disdain from customers comes from knowing they are forced to use CVS through insurance (half of them probably don't know CVS owns Caremark too, they'd be even more angry if they knew that) despite that it is very slow with very long lines, inconsistent/shorter hours of operation than it had a few years ago... That is all on CVS.

If you really want to have fun go over to the CVS Reddit where employees post. The complaining about budget cuts on an ongoing basis is unreal. But that is why the pharmacy operations are so poor with such long wait times. You'd think a company who designed a PBM/insurance system forcing customers to use its pharmacies would bulk up staffing at the stores. But instead these guys cut staffing.

Go back in time though... Target was adding in pharmacies and aggressively marketing them especially in California at the same time all the East Coasters came in and bought up Sav-On, Thrifty, Payless, and Longs. They definitely got some positive movement here from those changes for anyone who had insurance that worked at Target (who had pretty good acceptance overall). They retained those customers after all the consolidation until CVS took over the Target pharmacies. This might not be the story in other markets but I'm sure it was here. CVS was hated almost immediately upon arrival by customers and employees (the fact they went on a very public witch hunt to fire as many high paid Sav-On managers and replace them with people who were paid 50% less didn't help win them any new friends).

[storewanderer]

Go back in time though... Target was adding in pharmacies and aggressively marketing them especially in California at the same time all the East Coasters came in and bought up Sav-On, Thrifty, Payless, and Longs. They definitely got some positive movement here from those changes for anyone who had insurance that worked at Target (who had pretty good acceptance overall). They retained those customers after all the consolidation until CVS took over the Target pharmacies. This might not be the story in other markets but I'm sure it was here. CVS was hated almost immediately upon arrival by customers and employees (the fact they went on a very public witch hunt to fire as many high paid Sav-On managers and replace them with people who were paid 50% less didn't help win them any new friends).

Maybe Target had enough store penetration there in SoCal for people to start to connect them with pharmacy, but up here in Reno where Target just had one pharmacy during much of that consolidation time period, few people even knew they offered pharmacy. The second local Target Pharmacy opened in the Sparks relocation in around 2010 or so. They didn't market pharmacy at all in this market.

Up here in Reno area as recently as during COVID they still had a couple Sav-On managers running stores (not the same stores they ran as Sav-On, they got moved around). One is gone, didn't look retirement age, the other one who was a DM under Sav-On seems to be doing this for fun and could have retired long ago but was still there as of last summer. One long term Longs Manager was still running her store until very recently and I suspect may have retired; it was a terrible store over the years even as Longs, the facility is owned by CVS and is not maintained well, under CVS the store stunk, had constant HVAC issues all year, probably plumbing issues too based on the odor sometimes (other times the odor is that "old heater" smell); just a miserable place, but I noticed last year she was finally replaced, oddly the store got remodeled after that and the odor issues/HVAC issues seem to have been fixed. That store already has a third store manager now (the replacement didn't last long). There are still a few other Longs Managers running their stores up here, but they weren't very long term Longs people.

[Alpha8472]

Customers hate CVS due to lack of staffing which leads to long lines, long wait times for prescriptions, long hold times on the phone, etc.

A properly staffed pharmacy chain with lots of employees can deliver great customer service, fill prescriptions in 15 minutes or less, answer phone calls within 3 rings, and still do good business.

CVS ruined Longs Drugs when it took the chain over. Longs Drugs had lots of staffing. Prescriptions were filled promptly, phones were answered right away, and customers were happy to shop there. Longs was headquartered very close to where I live. All of their stores in my area were very well run and top of the line.

There is room for an independent pharmacy chain that is well run. This company could take tons of customers away from CVS and Walgreens and deliver great service.

[bryceleinan]

From what I was reading on X? Twitter?, looks like Anchorage is one of the areas losing CVS pharmacies inside of Target. Since Alaska only has 4 CVS locations, 3 of of them being inside of Target, that would make sense to give up the Alaska market.

[storewanderer]

It appears the only non Target CVS in Alaska is in Wasilla. It appears to be a very small former independent and is only open 8 AM To 6 PM Monday-Friday.

[HCal]

Every Target I have visited had a very busy Target Pharmacy.

Not so with CVS inside Target, and I have been in many Targets since I never ever go to Walmart.

How much of this do you think is related to the fact that we are observing California locations? I think it's pretty obvious that nobody was happy when CVS took over and destroyed the well-liked Sav-On and Longs chains, and that likely drove a lot of traffic to alternatives like Target before they too were sucked into the CVS cesspool.

I think that's a big part of it. The large metros in California are among the few places where Target gives Walmart a run for their money. Target is the default store that many Californians go to when they need housewares, bed/bath, cheap clothes, shoes, etc., just as Walmart is the default in many other places. So Target's pharmacies in California were quite busy, simply because the store was busy. I have the feeling that in other states, where Target played second fiddle to Walmart, the Target pharmacies were simply not viable.

I wonder what would have happened if CVS had not rebranded the Target pharmacies. They could have integrated them on the back end but kept the Target branding. That might have helped them retain customers. Caremark could have specified "CVS or Target pharmacies" in their insurance benefits.

[storewanderer]

I think that's a big part of it. The large metros in California are among the few places where Target gives Walmart a run for their money. Target is the default store that many Californians go to when they need housewares, bed/bath, cheap clothes, shoes, etc., just as Walmart is the default in many other places. So Target's pharmacies in California were quite busy, simply because the store was busy. I have the feeling that in other states, where Target played second fiddle to Walmart, the Target pharmacies were simply not viable.

I wonder what would have happened if CVS had not rebranded the Target pharmacies. They could have integrated them on the back end but kept the Target branding. That might have helped them retain customers. Caremark could have specified "CVS or Target pharmacies" in their insurance benefits.

The other thing is it seems like when CVS got involved, Target got a lot more aggressive with ensuring every new store had a pharmacy. It seemed like prior to that they didn't always include a pharmacy in their new stores? Maybe I am wrong on this.

Knowing how CVS runs its pharmacies, would you, if you were Target, let CVS run something with your name on it? I wouldn't.

If Target still had some say in how they operated/staffed the pharmacies, then maybe. But I suspect the agreement would have fallen apart real quick due to immediate disagreements if that had been the case.

[HCal]

The other thing is it seems like when CVS got involved, Target got a lot more aggressive with ensuring every new store had a pharmacy. It seemed like prior to that they didn't always include a pharmacy in their new stores? Maybe I am wrong on this.

I haven't visited a lot of Targets outside California, but I didn't realize there were any Targets without pharmacies. I thought pharmacies had been standard for a long time. Even the former "City Target" stores had them. Where were these pharmacy-free Targets located? Are you talking about right before the CVS deal, or decades ago? I'm kind of curious now.

[rwsandiego]

The other thing is it seems like when CVS got involved, Target got a lot more aggressive with ensuring every new store had a pharmacy. It seemed like prior to that they didn't always include a pharmacy in their new stores? Maybe I am wrong on this.

I haven't visited a lot of Targets outside California, but I didn't realize there were any Targets without pharmacies. I thought pharmacies had been standard for a long time. Even the former "City Target" stores had them. Where were these pharmacy-free Targets located? Are you talking about right before the CVS deal, or decades ago? I'm kind of curious now.

When Target invaded metro Chicago in the 1990's, all of their new stores were built with pharmacies. Can't speak for post-2000 openings (that's when I moved away), but all of their stores built in the subsequent years had pharmacies. Except for one (which received a pharmacy when it was remodeled) every Target I shopped in metro San Diego had a pharmacy, as did the LA and San Francisco Bay area stores.

I think Target and CVS should end this rental agreement and let Target operate their own pharmacies. I'd call it a partnership, but it clearly isn't one if CVS can close pharmacies at will.