Walgreens has announced the opening of a new micro-fulfillment center in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. This facility aims to enhance prescription processing efficiency and reduce administrative tasks, allowing pharmacists to focus more on patient care. The center will support nearly 200 Walgreens stores across the Midwest, including 145 in Minnesota, and is expected to process around 13 million prescriptions annually. Additionally, it will create over 175 jobs and contribute significant tax revenue to the state and county.
"Walgreens’ investment in micro-fulfillment centers is another strategic step toward a brighter future for community pharmacy,” said Rick Gates, chief pharmacy officer at Walgreens. “Research shows that Americans want more health services at their local pharmacy, and micro-fulfillment centers help us meet those needs by allowing our pharmacists do what they do best: spend more time with patients.”
The network of micro-fulfillment centers utilizes robotic technology to efficiently dispense and ship prescriptions nationwide. Walgreens now operates 12 such centers supporting over 5,000 stores across the country, fulfilling more than 3.5 million prescriptions weekly.
Key outcomes from these facilities include a 24% year-over-year increase in shipped volumes from micro-fulfillment centers and approximately 16 million prescriptions filled each month. These facilities manage about 40% of a store’s total prescription volume, enabling pharmacists to provide additional services like immunizations.
“Our pharmacists working in locations supported by our micro-fulfillment sites are spending less time filling prescriptions and more time on patient care, like providing medication adherence support or administering vaccines – all of which help strengthen the health of our communities and provide a better overall patient experience,” explains Kayla Heffington, vice president of pharmacy operating model at Walgreens.
Walgreens was founded in 1901 and serves nearly nine million customers daily across its approximately 8,500 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.