The pharmacy chain plans to open four stores in Portland in the next few months.
CVS Health has finally made its move into the Oregon retail pharmacy sector with the opening this week of its first standalone store, located in Portland’s Pearl District.
The chain operates in 19 Target stores in the state, but has not made a splash into the standalone pharmacy store space until now. Oregon was one of only a handful of states where the Rhode Island-headquartered company does not have standalone stores.
David Royster, CVS Health district leader for Pacific Northwest market, says the company has had its eye on the Oregon market for a while and had been waiting to get infrastructure in place before entering the market.
Inside CVS Health’s first Oregon store. The new lcoation is in Portland’s Pearl District.
Royster says the company is “uniquely positioned” to compete in Oregon’s retail pharmacy sector, which is dominated by competitors Rite Aid and Walgreens.
The chain’s executives tout the company’s commitment to dedicating more shelf space to healthy snacks and its full suite of services, including mail-order pharmacy business Caremark.
Candy aisle in CVS Health’s first standalone store in Oregon
CVS Health plans to open a second location near Portland State University on SW Harrison and SW 4th Ave. A third location is planned in the Portland southeast neighborhood of Sellwood. Both stores are scheduled to open by the end of the year.
A fourth Beaverton location is planned to open early in 2020.
The company will eventually seek to expand in the rest of the state, says Royster.
