The mere possibility of Amazon entering the pharmacy sector poses a threat to their businesses. And since Amazon purchased Whole Foods, Wall Street analysts probably think that the likelihood of Amazon entering this sector is now higher than before, because Amazon just acquired a number of physical retail locations in which they could place pharmacies.

Also worth noting that this is businessinsider... not exactly the pinnacle of business journalism. There were probably other market events affecting CVS / Walgreens today other than Amazon's acquisition.

It seems like Amazon would be much more likely to enter the Pharmacy market by going the ExpressScripts mail-order route by leveraging their logistical expertise vs going B&M

Yes. I could see Pillpack being a fit as well.

Relevant quotes:

> Whole Foods doesn't have a pharmacy, though it does sell vitamins and supplements. That means that Amazon's entrance into the pharmacy business, at least at a brick-and-mortar-level, might not be immediate.

> "We recognize that the sheer establishment of a physical presence is likely to give pause to those more concerned by the Amazon risk but note that Whole Foods does not have pharmacy and therefore is less likely to serve as a specific conduit towards driving whatever Amazon’s eventual pharmacy strategy might be," UBS said in a note.

It doesn't make any sense, everybody with any kind of retail B&M stock is freaking out right now because of the Whole Foods acquisition but I can't see Amazon getting into a highly regulated business like prescription drug sales, it's just not their thing.

I think this is a good time to buy pharmacy shares.

Putting pharmacies in a store that caters to those seeking health from food and alternative treatments? Never gonna happen. The Street has its head extremely far up it's ass today.

The more likely play for Amazon to get into the pharmacy business via an acquisition is by buying Target.

Medications have absolutely nothing to do with food. I am puzzled by your comment. There are, sure, some anti-vaxxers and alternative health kool-aid drinkers who shop at Whole Foods, but I'm pretty sure that's like 1% or so of their clientele.

You can't generalize a target market by the fringe groups that might be part of it.

That's interesting, my doctor (an MD) prescribes nutrition education. So does every other doctor in the same healthcare corporation, Healthcare Partners.

But Target sold their pharmacy business to CVS a few years ago.

How much of Walgreens' profits actually come from its pharmaceutical section?

Walgreens without a pharmacy is like a gas station store without gasoline pumps.

There is actually one of those in my town. Well, it does have pumps, but they have been disabled for something like 10+ years. They have stayed in business on the strength of the convenience store part of the business.

They had some kind of environmental problem with their storage tanks, and after a few months of "gas sales resuming soon", apparently they found that it would be too expensive to fix the problem, and its been that way ever since.

It is really puzzling, because not too far away on the other side of the street there is a gas station/convenience store/Subway that DOES sell gas, and has a much more varied stock. I have no idea why anyone would choose the no-gas store instead.

The street is one of the main entry/exit streets for the town. People coming into town will pass the no-gas store first, but will be able to see other store just a little farther down, and it is on the same side of the street they are on, so it seems the more obvious choice.

One can find homeopathic remedies in Whole Foods. Maybe that's a pharmacy?

How much non-pharmacy would you have to dilute an active anti-pharmacy in for a homeopathic pharmacy...?

True pharmacies tend to have products that actually help people.

Unfortunately, going to a pharmacy as opposed to a grocery store isn't enough to ensure that you will get something actually helpful. CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid all have plenty of homeopathic offerings.

Worse, the labeling as homeopathic is often not very prominent, and these products are shelved with the non-homeopathic products that treat the same thing the homeopathic ones purport to treat. It is easy to not realize you have picked a homeopathic product if you are in a hurry, or if whatever you are there to get help for has left you kind of zonked out.

Yeah, and I'm a true believer in bad science.

Doesn't have a pharmacy yet