CVS says it is planning several pharmacy-only locations across the country this year — including one that just opened in Washington, D.C. — as the nation's largest drug store chain works to improve customer access to medications.
The Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based retailer opened its D.C. location at 3701 New Hampshire Ave. NW. The store is open seven days a week on the ground floor of the multifamily building Modo Apartments.
It’s one of several roughly 3,000-square-foot stores the apothecary chain already has opened or plans to open this year with a full-service pharmacy and a customized selection of over-the-counter products available for purchase. The first pharmacy-only location opened late last year in Birmingham, Alabama. In March, CVS opened its first one in Chicago at 2628 West Pershing Road in Chicago’s West End neighborhood.
CVS' smaller-format experiment comes as the U.S. pharmacy sector is undergoing one of the most significant contractions in modern retail history, reshaping corners, intersections and neighborhood stores nationwide, according to a CoStar Market Analytics report.
CVS Executive Vice President Len Shankman said in a statement that “our new, pharmacy-focused locations allow our pharmacy teams to continue to build relationships with patients — their friends and neighbors — and provide on the ground pharmacy care in communities that need us.”
Since 2022, the unwinding of pandemic-driven demand and long-standing structural pressures has led to thousands of drugstore closings from the sector’s three primary operators, according to Brandon Svec, national director of U.S. retail analytics for CoStar Group.
Walgreens is executing a plan to close 1,200 stores over three years, including 500 that were closed in fiscal 2025. CVS has shuttered roughly 1,170 locations since beginning its strategic pullback in 2021, with more than 200 of its stores closing in 2025.
As for CVS' decision to open pharmacy-only locations, a recent report from the chain found that 80% of patients prefer face-to-face pharmacy care, and nearly half would switch pharmacies if limited to digital-only options.
The company said it plans to open nearly 20 pharmacy-focused stores this year including locations in Houston as well as in Boston and in Brooklyn, New York.
The dedicated neighborhood pharmacies join other formats for the brand already in place across the country, such as those located in traditional storefronts and store-in-store pharmacies such as those inside department store Target. CVS currently operates more than 35 locations with a pharmacy in the nation’s capital, including its newest spot.
CVS is the largest drug store in the U.S. with approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations. Walgreens is second with nearly 8,000 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.