CVS slated for Fraser Centre Target store

CVS Health, the Rhode Island pharmacy giant, will open a pharmacy in the Fraser Centre Target store when it opens on Oct. 5, the company recently announced.

Located at 201 W. Beaver Ave. in State College, the new Target is a flexible-format, or smaller, urban-scaled, store catering to the downtown and college crowd. CVS Pharmacy, which has more than 9,600 locations across the country, has two other stores downtown. Its Target “store-within-a-store” location will offer the same services as its traditional operations, including immunizations, digital prescription tools and prescription pickup. Patients who receive a flu shot at CVS sites within select Target stores can receive a $5 Target gift card, according to a release.

CVS acquired Target’s pharmacy and clinic businesses for about $1.9 billion in December. The deal was announced in June 2015.

Analysts lauded the deal initially, touting the shared benefits of branding, stability and a more favorable bottom line. But for consumers, the deal could mean less competition in the market, and as a potential outcome, higher prices.

“We look forward to helping Target guests on their path to better health through CVS Health’s leading clinical programs, such as Maintenance Choice, Pharmacy Advisor and Specialty Connect,” CVS Health President and CEO Larry Merlo said in a statement in December. “In addition, with the Target acquisition we will leverage our unique integrated business model and our scale to drive incremental sales volume and operating profit for the enterprise while providing convenience and cost savings to consumers and payors.”

With the acquisition, CVS became the largest drugstore chain in the United States. It added more than 1,660 locations as part of the Target deal. CVS reported Target fills 96 million prescriptions a year and its pharmacy business accounts for about $4.2 billion annually, according to Market Watch.

CVS fills about 1.7 billion prescriptions annually and has on-site retail pharmacy sales of $47.9 billion.

This story was originally published September 28, 2016 at 6:15 PM with the headline "CVS slated for Fraser Centre Target store."