Pharmaca Closing Its 22 Stores

[Alpha8472]

Pharmaca is a small chain of pharmacies that focused on natural products and high end items. It also had a prescription pharmacy inside. It was bought by digital pharmacy start up Medley in 2021. Medley tried to do the online pharmacy model and got into quite a bit of debt. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2022.

The problem with mail order pharmacy is that it is difficult to make a profit. Unlike insurance companies that run their own mail order pharmacies, other online pharmacies suffer from debt. Filling cheap blood pressure medications is not where the profit is to be made. The blood pressure medications have profits of a few cents and the packing and shipping costs even more.

I can see why Amazon pharmacy is struggling.

Pharmaca follows in the footsteps of Elephant Pharmacy which was also a natural remedy pharmacy chain. It simply could not make a profit. I found Pharmaca to have many expensive natural products, but not a place where you would buy affordable items such as standard cough and cold medications.

The profit of pharmacies comes from vaccinations and expensive insulin. The customers who are into natural and homeopathic remedies would be the people who shun vaccinations and expensive medications.

Pharmaca sold its prescriptions and prescription drug inventory to Walgreens.

https://digitalhealth.modernhealthcare. ... une%202021.

[Brian Lutz]

There was a Pharmaca in Redmond next to the Redmond Center QFC, which took over the location from a long running local drugstore probably about 15 years ago when it closed during a remodel of the shopping center. I just assumed that everything in the place was overpriced and don't think I ever actually shopped there.

[SamSpade]

Yeah, they already vacated their space next to Market of Choice in a high-end suburban area near Portland, Ore. The unfortunate thing is now there's no pharmacy there at all. However, Target has opened up the street (with a CVS) and literally across the street from that is a 3 year old CVS so ((shrug)).

[storewanderer]

I think they used to do business under a different name and at some point I ordered something from their website, some kind of a natural HBA item, may have been a mouthwash or something. I only ordered one time and received the e-mail this week about the closure. That was the only e-mail I ever received from them after ordering years ago.

[buckguy]

Supplements have huge mark-ups. That's why GNC survives in dead/dying malls and shady media figures use them as a side hustle to raise funds. Mixing prescriptions and supplements is a little counter-intuitive unless they think they can reach a health conscious customer who is both traditional and hyper-"natural" in their approach to things, which would be a small niche.

[BillyGr]

Supplements have huge mark-ups. That's why GNC survives in dead/dying malls and shady media figures use them as a side hustle to raise funds. Mixing prescriptions and supplements is a little counter-intuitive unless they think they can reach a health conscious customer who is both traditional and hyper-"natural" in their approach to things, which would be a small niche.

Might just depend what types of supplements and similar they carry. For instance, many people have prescribed medicines and also use things like over the counter vitamins/minerals, so they might buy both at one place if it was convenient for them.

[Alpha8472]

I work in a pharmacy and most doctors are very anti-vitamin. They send in prescriptions for expensive brand name drugs because the drug representatives give them perks. Doctors push drugs because they get their business from writing prescriptions.

Once in a while a doctor might prescribe vitamin D, C, or a B vitamin. Most doctors will not since few insurances cover vitamins.

Most people get enough vitamins from their food. If your diet is poor then maybe you might need some vitamin D or perhaps a multivitamin.

Pharmaca was not a busy store. It was way too over-priced. Vitamin fanatics would shop online or go to a real vitamin store for better prices.

If Pharmaca had a regular selection of drugstore items, perhaps they would have gotten more business. The store did not stock many common drugstore over the counter items. If they did, it would be outrageously priced. The store needed balance. Stock standard products like a CVS and have some natural items as well. Pharmaca banned many drugstore items it deemed as unnatural which made the store useless if you wanted Nyquil or something common.

[storewanderer]

I wonder if they carried common OTC items behind the counter or something. This was also a problem with Raleys ONE initially; they banned common OTC items yet were still running a full service moderate volume pharmacy in the store.

I looked back and what I ordered was an Alba Botanica item that I had gotten on clearance at some other store (probably Rite Aid) and really liked and found some on their website and they had a great deal when buying 3 units, better than anywhere else I could find online. But I never ordered from them again for whatever reason; lack of mix, price, forgot about them, etc.

[BillyGr]

Once in a while a doctor might prescribe vitamin D, C, or a B vitamin. Most doctors will not since few insurances cover vitamins.

Most people get enough vitamins from their food. If your diet is poor then maybe you might need some vitamin D or perhaps a multivitamin.

They may also recommend a couple mineral type things like calcium or iron. At least those I have heard from, they more often just suggest getting them yourself vs. actually prescribing them, which makes sense as they are easy enough to get and cheaper as well.

One nurse recently did mention that Vitamin D is more commonly needed in areas like this (more northern parts of the country) due to the shorter hours of sun and the more indirect sunlight that we do get, particularly this time of year, and that makes sense as well.

[SamSpade]

Poorly handled pharmacy counter closure received some "ink" in the Portland, Ore. "newspaper."
Pharmaca acquired by Walgreens, prescriptions transferred