U.S. Retail Pharmacy Segment
Our U.S. Retail Pharmacy segment includes two trusted retail, pharmacy and healthcare brands: Walgreens and Duane Reade. Together, they form one of the largest drugstore chains in the U.S.
Founded in 1901, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) has a storied heritage of caring for communities for generations, and proudly serves nearly 9 million customers and patients each day across its approximately 8,500 stores throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and leading omni-channel platforms. Walgreens has approximately 220,000 team members, including nearly 90,000 healthcare service providers, and is committed to being the first choice for retail pharmacy and health services, building trusted relationships that create healthier futures for customers, patients, team members and communities.
Walgreens is the flagship U.S. brand of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA), an integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retail leader. Its retail locations are a critical point of access and convenience in thousands of communities, with Walgreens pharmacists playing a greater role as part of the healthcare system and patients’ care teams than ever before. Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy provides critical care and pharmacy services to millions of patients with rare disease states and complex, chronic conditions.
Since 1960, from its first successful full-service drugstore on Broadway between Duane and Reade Streets in Manhattan, Duane Reade has grown to become the most recognized drugstore chain in metropolitan New York. In 2010, Duane Reade became part of the Walgreens family of companies and today, Duane Reade stores carry everything that our customers will also find in Walgreens stores, including an extensive assortment of pharmacy items as well as vitamins, nutritional products, cosmetics, greeting cards, photo products and processing, and more.
In January 2021, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., made a majority investment in iA, a leading-edge provider of software enabled pharmacy automation solutions.
iA’s pharmacy automation solutions enable the shifting of much of the current medication dispensing labor that takes place in a retail pharmacy to more efficient, centralized settings, therefore freeing up more time for pharmacists to deliver front-line patient care and spend time with customers.
With more than 25 years in the pharmacy fulfillment business, iA has invented and developed a suite of software-driven pharmacy automation solutions. From PharmAssist Symphony software, to modular hardware and sophisticated counting and collation devices, iA is empowering pharmacists and unleashing the full potential of pharmacy.
WBA’s investment is supporting iA’s expansion and further development of pharmacy automation solutions to benefit the entire pharmacy industry. iA’s mission to further modernize and automate the prescription fulfillment process aligns with WBA’s priority to create the pharmacy of the future, reducing operational costs and enabling pharmacists to spend more time providing valuable healthcare services to patients, such as vaccinations, diagnostic testing and medication management.