Save Mart grocery chain ends pharmacy services. What it means for customers
In its latest change since being bought by a private equity firm earlier this year, Save Mart is ending its pharmacy services.
Representatives for the Modesto-based grocery chain confirmed that all pharmacies inside its Save Mart and Lucky supermarkets would shut down. Pharmacy services for existing customers will be transferred to Walgreens, said company spokesperson Victoria Castro.
“Our Save Mart and Lucky Pharmacy staff will work closely with their patients to make this transition of services as convenient and seamless as possible,” she said in a written statement.
According to the website for The Save Mart Companies, which owns Save Mart, Lucky California and FoodMaxx grocery stores, the company has 89 full-service pharmacies — 46 in its Save Mart locations and another 43 in its Lucky California/Lucky stores. The parent company runs 200 total grocery stores across Northern California and Northern Nevada.
Castro said Walgreens has “expressed great interest in hiring and has the intention to hire as many of our pharmacy associates as possible.” She did not provide information on how many pharmacy staff the company had or would be affected by the change.
The decision is part of a series of changes the company has made under its new ownership. In late March the valley-born company ended 70 years of family ownership when it was acquired by Los Angeles-based private equity firm Kingswood Capital Management LP. One of the first moves was to install longtime Albertsons executive Shane Sampson as its board’s executive chairman.
Then this spring the company announced the end of a long-standing benefit for veteran nonunion Save Mart retirees, which had been provided in some form since the 1980s under late company CEO Bob Piccinini. This June retirees stopped receiving the supplemental health care benefits of up to $1,000 a month.
Then the Save Mart Companies CEO Chris McGarry left the company. McGarry had been with the supermarket chain since 2017 and became the first non-family member to serve as CEO in early 2021. Castro said at the time of McGarry’s departure that the company would not fill the CEO position, and Sampson was leading the company instead.
In June it also was announced that the partnership between Save Mart and San Francisco-based Starship Technologies had ended, which stopped the little white grocery delivering robots that had become a ubiquitous sight around Modesto. Save Mart and Starship Technologies launched the program in September 2020.
That decision, however, was made by Starship Technologies and not Save Mart directly. The technology company made the decision to exit Northern California and focus instead on its campus and European delivery programs. Save Mart has not replaced the service with another autonomous, touchless service, but does offer regular grocery delivery through Instacart.
“We remain committed to serving our local communities in health and wellness for all their grocery needs as well as further developing our innovative technologies and tools that enhance the lives of our associates, customers, and communities we serve,” Castro said in the statement.
Castro did not provide information about how the company planned to wind down its pharmacies. Signs posted at Save Mart locations in the Reno area reportedly have mentioned this Wednesday, Aug. 17, as the final day for services.
Save Mart was among the first local pharmacies to offer COVID-19 vaccination appointments in early 2021, when the vaccines were in high-demand and not readily available to the general population.
A corporate memo sent by Sampson to employees earlier this week that announced the shuttering of the company’s pharmacies said the move would “enable us to sharpen our focus on running great grocery stores.”
This story was originally published August 15, 2022 at 9:50 AM.
