CVS warns bill will close 134 Tennessee pharmacies
CVS issued a warning saying Tennessee’s bill would jeopardize the closure of 134 pharmacies, including MinuteClinic, and affect more than 2,000 jobs.
CVS will open the first of its new “pharmacy-style” pharmacy-only stores in 2026 and plans to open more.
The drugstore chain announced its new store format on March 30th, and announced that it plans to open 20 similar stores nationwide in 2026. These pharmacy-only stores, the first of which opened last year in Birmingham, Alabama, will consist of full-service pharmacies that offer both prescription filling and over-the-counter product selection, minus the rest of the corner stores typically found in CVS stores.
Images of a newly released store in Chicago’s West End show a stripped-down version of the CVS Pharmacy counter you often see in the back of local CVS stores. Rather than occupying a small portion of the approximately 3,000 square foot space, the center is centered around a counter and accompanying waiting room, not dissimilar to a doctor’s office waiting room.
The purpose of these “pharmacy-style” stores is to give pharmacists more face-to-face interaction and consultation with customers, the company said in a press release.
“Our new dedicated pharmacy locations will allow our pharmacy teams to continue to build relationships with patients, their friends and neighbors, and provide on-site pharmacy care in the communities that need us,” Len Shankman, CVS Health executive vice president and president of Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness, said in a statement.
Where will new CVS locations open?
CVS plans to open a total of 20 pharmacy-only stores by the end of the year. Although the exact list of addresses was not shared, the format will expand to Houston, Detroit, Brooklyn, New York, and Roxbury, Massachusetts, according to a press release.
The company also plans to open more than 40 new CVS pharmacies nationwide in 2026, including traditional stores and Target pharmacies. Exact location details were not available as of April 2nd.
CVS closes thousands of stores and opens hundreds
Like other drugstore chains, including the now-defunct Rite Aid, CVS has struggled in recent years to maintain store numbers amid competition, leading to significant downsizing efforts.
The company announced plans to close 270 stores in 2025, adding to the roughly 800 net closures over the past three years as reported by the Wall Street Journal, for a total of more than 1,000 store closures.
Part of the chain’s strategy is to open more pharmacy counters inside Target stores and smaller in-store MinuteClinics for minor illnesses and injuries, vaccines and other simple care.
The company has also agreed to pay up to $4.9 billion over 10 years to settle a series of high-profile lawsuits alleging Medicare fraud, improper pricing and contributing to the opioid epidemic.
