CVS Ups New Units, Conversions

(Ian Ritter is national online editor for GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

WOONSOCKET, RI-CVS Corp. continues to expand its stores base as it converts recently-acquired units from other companies under its banner. These real estate initiatives come as the drugstore giant is in an agreement to acquire pharmaceutical services company Caremark for about $21 billion.

The acquisition of Caremark will combine CVS’ retail operations with that firm’s prescription services, which will manage costs and make the prescription-filling process easier for consumers, executives at both companies say. They expect the merged company, called CVS/Caremark Corp., to fulfill one billion prescriptions a year and have annual revenues of $75 billion.