Retail Watchers

Fun fact: Safeway is in the standalone pharmacy business.

There is a standalone Safeway Pharmacy in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, which is along I-5 between Eugene and Medford (about 20 minutes south of Roseburg).

They told me that it had been a Safeway Pharmacy for about six years. The person I spoke with said she wasn't aware of any plans to open a full Safeway in Myrtle Creek. The closest Safeway (and Albertsons) is 20 minutes up I-5 in Roseburg.

Myrtle Creek is a town of about 3,500 people. It has a Ray's Food Place, which anchors the strip mall where the Safeway Pharmacy is located. I am wondering if the records for this pharmacy originated with the Ray's and Safeway was the highest (or only) bidder when Ray's got out of the pharmacy business. The six-year timeframe would align with when Ray's / C&K filed for bankruptcy.

It was a small site (a fraction of the size of a typical CVS or Walgreens) but they had a limited selection of some drug-store type items (beverages, OTC medicine, toilet paper, a few snacks, etc.).

Safeway took over an independent pharmacy several years ago in the Rockridge Neighborhood of Oakland, California. It was run as a Safeway pharmacy until it moved inside of the new Safeway replacement in Oakland.

If this pharmacy has lots of customers with private medical insurance, it could be profitable. Is there no other competition around?

Alpha8472 wrote: ↑February 26th, 2020, 7:17 pm Safeway took over an independent pharmacy several years ago in the Rockridge Neighborhood of Oakland, California. It was run as a Safeway pharmacy until it moved inside of the new Safeway replacement in Oakland.

If this pharmacy has lots of customers with private medical insurance, it could be profitable. Is there no other competition around?

There are a few other examples...a United Supermarkets in Clyde has the pharmacy in another building, the McCall Albertsons bought out an independent pharmacy/drug store, which moved into the main Albertsons store while the main store was expanded. Bizarrely, Albertsons still holds onto the store as "Albertsons Summer Outlet", a store selling seasonal outdoor products. (link)

Brookshire Bros. also has a pharmacy in Bryan despite no stores in the area (the closest one is 20 miles away). These examples aren't unheard of.

I think it's interesting. A quick Google search yields that Safeway gently tried to enter the standalone pharmacy market at one point. This is in contrast to situations where landlocked stores like Safeway, Kroger, etc. acquired or built nearby pharmacies to supplement their nearby stores (typically, these pharmacies were consolidated into the store during the next renovation).

Alpha8472 wrote: ↑February 26th, 2020, 7:17 pm Safeway took over an independent pharmacy several years ago in the Rockridge Neighborhood of Oakland, California. It was run as a Safeway pharmacy until it moved inside of the new Safeway replacement in Oakland.

If this pharmacy has lots of customers with private medical insurance, it could be profitable. Is there no other competition around?

It looks like this is the only pharmacy in Myrtle Creek (population 3,500). The closest other pharmacy is in Canyonville, about 10 miles to the south (town of comparable size). The area of Tri-City is about halfway between Myrtle Creek and Canyonville and has another 3,000 people.

I am not a pharmacy expert, but I can see Walgreen's or Rite Aid having passed on the opportunity to buy these records because it is just too small of a trade area (especially with Roseburg 20 miles to the north), so Safeway was an unconventional winner when Ray's went to sell the records (again, this is an assumption that those records originated with Ray's). It seems to be a big enough area to warrant a pharmacy but not big enough to lure Walgreen's into opening a full drugstore.

In Roanoke, Virginia Kroger has a stand-alone pharmacy across the street from a Kroger store.

Safeway had a stand alone pharmacy in Minden, NV for a number of years in the 00's. Eventually it closed. Safeway had been planning to build a new store across the street from it but those plans were cancelled and the lot since developed into a hotel, car wash, and Tractor Supply. It would have probably been a good location for a store but given Safeway's inability to perform well in Nevada, may have ended in failure.