2 LI ShopRite pharmacies among 62 closing, transferring prescriptions to CVS
Shop Rite at 335 Nesconset Highway in Hauppauge on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Credit: James Carbone
ShopRite will close 62 in-store pharmacies, including two on Long Island, and transfer customers’ prescriptions to nearby CVS drugstores this month, the grocer said.
The closing pharmacies on Long Island are in a ShopRite in Plainview, at 444 Woodbury Rd., and one in Hauppauge, at 335 Nesconset Hwy., spokeswoman Karen O’Shea said.
"Only the pharmacies are closing. And the stores are open and remain committed to the health and well-being of our customers by providing healthy, affordable foods and meal solutions along with the great service and exceptional value our customers expect," she said.
After the 62 pharmacies close in six East Coast states, 147 in-store pharmacies will remain in the grocery chain, O’Shea said.
The pharmacies are being closed because, amid the highly competitive pharmacy market, ShopRite was unable to "sustain sufficient sales despite our marketing efforts," she said.
Neither ShopRite nor CVS Pharmacy responded to inquiries about whether CVS paid to acquire the prescriptions.
The ShopRite name is a registered trademark of Wakefern Food Corp., a retailer-owned cooperative based in Keasbey, New Jersey, that provides groceries and support to nearly 280 ShopRite stores in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and Delaware. Wakefern is made up of 50 member family-owned companies.
The Plainview store where the pharmacy is closing is operated by the Greenfield family and its company, Food Parade Inc., O’Shea said. The supermarket in Hauppauge is operated by the Janson family and its company, Janson Supermarkets LLC, she said.
There are 16 ShopRite stores on Long Island.
Of those supermarkets, four have in-store pharmacies, including one in Bay Shore, at 1905 Sunrise Hwy., and another in Plainview, at the residential and retail development called Country Pointe at 1675 Old Country Rd.
Customers of the closing pharmacies will be notified that their prescription files will be automatically transferred to CVS stores.
"We will continue to serve local communities with our best-in-class pharmacy services and COVID-19 response, including testing and vaccinations," CVS spokesman Matt Blanchette said.
A division of Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS Health Corp., CVS Pharmacy has more than 9,900 locations, including those inside Target stores and the Schnucks chain of supermarkets in the Midwest.
There are 128 CVS locations on Long Island.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect photo.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
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