The pharmacy inside the Marsh Supermarket on State Road 135 in Greenwood will close next week as the grocery store chain made the decision to close all in-store pharmacies to cut costs.
All in-store pharmacies will close permanently Wednesday.
The Greenwood store is at 2904 S. State Road 135 and includes one of the company’s 37 pharmacies in its 64 stores, according to its website. As part of its decision to stop providing pharmacy services, the company has sold customer prescription accounts to Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS.
A Marsh spokesman didn’t respond to messages from IBJ seeking comment. But CVS confirmed Friday morning that it has agreed to acquire the prescription records and pharmacy inventory from the 37 Marsh pharmacies in Indiana. The files will be transferred to nearby CVS locations between May 3 and 5.
“CVS and Marsh will work together to ensure that pharmacy patients experience a seamless transition with no interruption of service,” CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said via email.
Each Marsh store will have signage informing customers of the nearest CVS location, DeAngelis said, although any CVS pharmacy will fill prescriptions for Marsh customers.
CVS’ purchase of Marsh prescription accounts follows its acquisition in December 2015 of Target’s pharmacy and clinic businesses for about $1.9 billion.
Marsh’s internal announcement Friday to exit the pharmacy business comes after the grocery chain earlier this month said it would close more stores in May.
Marsh confirmed that it will close stores in Indianapolis, Greenfield, Cincinnati, Frankfort, Logansport and Portland, and in Union City, Ohio.
Marsh said the stores were closing because of “sustained weak performance.” The company said it would work with employees at those stores who wished to transfer to another Marsh location.
The closures will leave Marsh with 54 stores, down from 120 in 2006, when Florida-based Sun Capital Partners acquired the company.
Marsh Supermarkets, founded by the Marsh family in 1931, has struggled to compete in recent years with larger chains such as Kroger, Meijer and Walmart — making its stores less attractive to potential buyers.
