Amazon.com today introduced RXPass, a new subscription plan that enables Prime members to buy prescription medicines for more than 80 common health conditions delivered to their homes for $5 a month in total. Will RxPass be an attractive perk for Amazon Prime members and those considering  subscription?

CVS and Walgreens have both begun the certification process to sell abortion pills under a new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation that will allow the medication to be offered by retail pharmacies for the first time. Not unsurprisingly, the backlash has begun. Are CVS and Walgreens making the right business decision to pursue certification to sell abortion pills?

Rite Aid yesterday said that board member Elizabeth “Busy” Burr has been named interim CEO of the company, effective immediately. She replaces Heyward Donigan who has led the drugstore chain since 2019. What does Rite Aid need to do to better to compete against CVS, Walgreens and other rivals?

In a new pilot, Rite Aid Corp. is opening mini-locations in rural areas in order to serve “pharmacy deserts” and underserved communities. Do you see growth opportunities for Rite Aid or other drug chains serving  consumers in underserved communities?

Walgreens is coming to the rescue of parents caring for sick kids in the middle of the night. The retailer’s same-day delivery program is going 24/7 as of today. How will 24/7 delivery shape consumers’ views of Walgreens?

Walgreens is eliminating task-based metrics for pharmacy staff as part of performance reviews in order to place an “even greater focus on patient care and outcomes.” Do you think task-based metrics do more to incentivize or stress out retail workers?

CVS is slashing prices on its menstrual products and working to eliminate sales tax on such items across states as part of a broader push against the “pink tax,” a term referring to the premium women tend to pay versus men for personal health goods. What do you think of CVS’s moves to reduce prices on menstrual and other personal products?

Major retail pharmacies are facing legal battles over placing homeopathic remedies in the medicine aisle with the rest of the pills. What should a retailer’s responsibility be when it comes to informing customers of the effectiveness or lack thereof of the products it sells?

Rite Aid has a shrink problem in New York City and it’s forcing the drugstore retailer to consider taking aggressive measures to keep goods from being walked out the door by thieves. Does it make sense for Rite Aid and others operating in high crime areas to put all product behind showcases?

Walgreens continues to open automated pharmacies as it moves towards its goal of having 22 of the facilities in operation across the country by 2025. How will robo-pharmacies change the physical store layouts and other aspects of the drugstore business?

CVS on Monday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Signify Health in an all-cash deal valued at around $8 billion. Do you see the move into primary and other forms of healthcare significantly changing the drugstore business over the next decade?

CVS has arguably been the driving force behind America’s acceptance of health clinics in retail stores. Now, the chain is looking to take the next step with retail clinics staffed by doctors. Do you think CVS will be able to acquire and scale a primary care provider quickly enough to catch up with Walgreens’ VillageMD rollout?

Amazon yesterday said that it has reached a deal to acquire One Medical, a “technology-powered national primary care organization” that combines in-person, digital and telehealth services to care for patients. What do you think of the retailer-led pushes into primary healthcare?

Walgreens has a public perception issue to deal with after recent encounters with store staff led customers to go public with the ill treatment they received in the chain’s stores. Does Walgreens need to come up with another response other than citing its company policy in instances where associate’s acts of conscience result in unhappy customers?

Walgreens associates have made the news in recent weeks for refusing to sell over-the-counter and prescription contraceptives to customers based on their religious objections. Should Walgreens and other retailers screen applicants to see if their personal views may interfere with their ability to do their jobs?

Rite Aid yesterday officially opened its new “remote” headquarters building (AKA collaboration center) in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard district. What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of a remote-first corporate workforce?

Walgreens will use robots to fill customers’ prescriptions in 22 micro-fulfillment centers the chain is opening in the next three years across the U.S. What impact will widespread use of robotics have on retail pharmacy operations in the U.S.?

Walgreens reportedly ended its print circular last fall, Target last November and CVS at the close of 2021 as comfort with digital circulars and coupons has grown over the pandemic. How relevant are print circulars as part of the shopping journey for most consumers today?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s the reaction of customers to the decision by retailers to replace see-through cooler doors with digital alternatives.  Are the digital doors used by Walgreens a solution in search of a problem, as critics suggest, or is it a valuable tool for shoppers, stores and consumer brands?

The need for vaccination against COVID-19 has driven a huge influx of foot traffic to retail pharmacies, but with demand for vaccines and pandemic-related services waning, retail pharmacies are anticipating taking a hit. What do retail pharmacies need to do to prepare for a future where COVID-19 vaccination is less of a traffic driver?

Meijer has announced that its retail pharmacy will be the first to offer free, at-home COVID-19 PCR tests to customers. In partnership with a testing company called eTrueNorth, Meijer will be providing home PCR tests for pickup at the store. What will Meijer get out of its free PCR test offer?

A federal jury in Ohio has found that CVS, Walgreens and Walmart must take responsibility for the opioid epidemic that has plagued Lake and Trumbull counties in the state. Do pharmacy retailers hold responsibility for the prescriptions they fill?

CVS Health will close 900 stores over three years and launch new formats as part of its strategic push to create health destinations in the communities it serves. Will CVS be a stronger drugstore retailer as a result of its plan to close 900 stores, operate three distinct formats and utilize a different executive leadership model?

Customers already visit CVS for vaccinations, prescriptions and to take care of a range of other pharmacy-related errands. Soon, customers may be going there for full primary care visits as well. Do you see large numbers of Americans eventually having their primary care needs met in retail pharmacies?

Walgreens last week announced plans to focus on primary care, post-acute care and home care as part of a new Walgreens Health growth strategy. What do you think of Walgreens’ opportunity to support primary care, post-acute care and home care needs?

Testimony in the criminal trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes paints a picture of major retailers willing to take a vendor’s word without engaging in the type of due diligence required to vet those claims. What responsibilities do you think retailers need to take for the products they sell and the services they offer?

Grocers struggled to meet consumer demand for delivery, BOPIS and other options last year as the pandemic hit, while CPG companies switched their focus to channels that would make it easier for consumers to buy their products. How can retailers and their trading partners best reduce friction through all channels while simultaneously increasing value to shoppers?

Rite Aid is taking a remote-first approach when it comes to corporate associates by building a network of collaboration centers in markets where the drugstore chain operates to meet and collaborate in-person as needed. Do you think Rite Aid is on the right track with its remote-first approach to its corporate workforce and its use of collaboration centers?

Walgreens announced that it completed moving 122 enterprise resource planning (ERP) apps to the cloud in May. Has moving enterprise resource planning to the cloud become a business necessity for retailers and consumer-direct brands?

Dollar General plans to increase its selection of healthcare products and services across the communities it serves in rural America, making the chain more valuable to the locals in areas that have been traditionally underserved.  How challenging will it be for Dollar General to move into healthcare product categories and services in rural markets?

Either sales and earnings at Walgreens and the other major U.S. drugstore chains are poised to get a lot healthier or are they going to take a turn for the worse as the pandemic wanes. What challenges does Walgreens face going forward and does it have the right plan in place to achieve growth?

Walgreens has put a full selection of its products on the menu for same-day delivery through Uber Eats across the U.S. How important will delivery options become within the pharmacy space for both prescription and front of store sales?

Walmart is adding a new perk to its Walmart+ subscription program that promises members they’ll pay as little as $0 on select prescription medicines while receiving discounts on 85 percent of the thousands sold in the retailer’s pharmacies.  How popular do you expect the pharmacy perk to be with current Walmart+ members, and will it help drive new subscriptions?

Will Amazon take its pharmacy business from a purely online operation into physical store locations? It is, at the very least, mulling the possibility of this next step, according to reports. Do you think Amazon can effectively run brick-and-mortar pharmacies and compete in the markets where it opens them?

CVS is expanding a pilot program offering mental health counseling and therapy services inside stores. Does it make business sense for pharmacies to offer mental health services and therapy alongside current services in those stores?

CVS recently announced the rollout of a medical alert system to meet senior customers’ healthcare needs in their homes. Do you think CVS and other retail pharmacies will succeed with in home tech services?

Nursing home residents and staff have been among the hardest hit populations since the pandemic broke out in 2020. Yet 60 percent of those working in nursing homes and 20 percent of residents say they would refuse the vaccine. Do you think vaccine reluctance will dissipate as more and more Americans are immunized against COVID-19?

Communities that have long had trouble attracting grocers that sell fresh and nutritious foods may find they have pulled the short straw when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations, as well.  What do you see as the biggest internal and external challenges facing retail pharmacies when it comes to immunizing large numbers of people against COVID-19?

Walgreens Boots Alliance has reached a deal with Rosalind Brewer to join the company as its new chief executive officer, replacing Stefano Pessina who announced last summer that he would move to executive chairman of the company’s board once his replacement was found. What do you expect Rosalind Brewer to bring to her role as CEO of Walgreens?

The Trump administration on Tuesday sued Walmart for helping fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic by ignoring suspicious prescriptions. To what degree are pharmacies responsible for questionable prescriptions?

If informal polling among family and friends is a true indication, the spots in today’s installment of the RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge are among the most memorable for the season.  Do you think both of these two messages about what “giving” means this year will resonate with viewers?

With the FDA’s emergency approval late Friday of a vaccine co-developed by Pfizer, the nation is now counting on retail to help execute the nation’s most ambitious vaccination campaign in history. What will be the obvious and less obvious challenges facing retailers in their role administering COVID-19 vaccinations?

Forty-seven percent of Americans surveyed are not confident in the level of medical care they would receive from a retail in-store clinic, according to a new study. What can retailers with in-store clinics do to build trust in their medical service offerings?

CVS Health Corporation announced yesterday that it has hired Neela Montgomery as executive vice president and president of CVS Pharmacy/Retail, to run the company’s 10,000 drugstores and lead its 190,000 employees across the U.S.  What effect do you think Neela Montgomery will have on CVS’s drugstore operations and overall company results?

Walgreens announced a complete reinvention of its customer loyalty program yesterday. Will the introduction of myWalgreens and 30-minute pickup be a competitive difference maker for the retailer?

Amazon.com announced the launch of Amazon Pharmacy, a new online pharmacy service and another free perk for the e-tailing giant’s Prime members. Does the launch of Amazon Pharmacy mark the beginning of the company becoming a major force in the U.S. pharmacy business?

Rite Aid looks like it might be getting on a mini roll after years of struggling to compete in a retail drugstore market dominated by CVS and Walgreens.  Do you think Rite Aid has begun putting itself in a better position to be successful this year?

While the novel coronavirus pandemic has been rough on retail as a whole, retailers in specific segments have found opportunities. One of those retailers is CVS. How can CVS hang on to first-time customers that came in for a COVID-19 test?

The doctor is in at Walgreens. The pharmacy chain announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement with VillageMD to locate between 500 and 700 primary care doctor’s offices in its stores over the next five years. How much of an effect will the widespread launch of the Village Medical at Walgreens concept have on the drugstore retailer’s business?

Retailers are starting to open drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites to the public for the first time. Are they ready? What challenges do you expect retailers to face rolling out COVID-19 testing?