One-Stop Wellness: Filling Prescriptions at the Same Grocery Store Where You Shop Is a Win for Health, Convenience, and the Planet
Filling Prescriptions at the Same Grocery Store Where You Shop Is a Win for Health, Convenience, and the Planet aka One-Stop Wellness
When most people think about their grocery store, they picture weekly staples: fresh produce, pantry essentials, maybe even a treat or two. However, grocery stores are becoming increasingly more than just a place to stock the fridge. They’re transforming into wellness hubs — spaces where you can nourish your body with food and take care of your medical needs.
One of the most impactful shifts has been the integration of in-store pharmacies. More than just a convenience, filling your prescriptions where you shop for groceries offers a range of benefits that extend from your personal health to your community’s well-being and even the environment.
Filling Prescriptions at the Same Grocery Store Where You Shop Is a Win for Health, Convenience, and the Planet: One-Stop Wellness
As a recent McKinsey report points out, retail pharmacies are evolving rapidly to meet changing consumer expectations — blending healthcare, retail, and lifestyle in ways that make wellness more accessible and holistic.¹ Grocery store pharmacies embody this transformation, turning everyday shopping trips into opportunities for better health.
This blog explores those benefits in detail, while also highlighting how progressive grocery chains can showcase their values — from eliminating plastic bags to offering on-site recycling and adopting sustainable packaging like Parcel Health’s Tully Tube, the first paper-based, food-safe pill bottle.
1. Convenience Meets Health: The Everyday Benefits
Time Savings
Time is a currency we never seem to have enough of. Combining grocery shopping with prescription pick-up streamlines two essential errands into one trip. Instead of battling traffic twice, you park once, shop once, and leave with everything you need.
Imagine: while your prescription is being filled, you can walk the aisles for dinner ingredients, grab fresh produce, and check off your weekly list. By the time you’re finished, your medication is ready.
Grocery Dive notes that supermarket pharmacies not only increase convenience but also improve customer satisfaction and loyalty — customers value being able to “get everything done in one place.”²
Fewer Missed Doses
Accessibility plays a huge role in medication adherence. The easier it is to pick up prescriptions, the less likely you are to delay or forget taking them. When your pharmacy is built into your routine grocery run, you build medication pick-up into your rhythm of life.
McKinsey’s research underscores this: patients who experience fewer “friction points” — such as extra trips or wait times — are more likely to stay adherent to medication plans and preventive care routines.¹
Holistic Health in One Location
Health is more than pills and refills — it’s nutrition, movement, and care. Grocery store pharmacies put food and medicine under the same roof, reinforcing the connection between diet and wellness. Your pharmacist might counsel you on foods that interact with your medication, while your grocery choices reinforce your health goals.
This integration supports a more whole-person approach to wellness, a theme that both healthcare and retail industries are embracing as they converge.
2. Personalization and Trust
Familiar Faces, Stronger Relationships
When your pharmacy is located in the same place you shop weekly, you naturally build a relationship with your pharmacist. Trust grows when you see the same professionals regularly, and they get to know you, your family, and your health needs.
As Grocery Dive highlights, grocers with pharmacies enjoy stronger customer relationships because shoppers view their pharmacists as part of their broader wellness team — not just a service provider.²
Comprehensive Care
Many in-store pharmacies offer more than refills: they also offer vaccinations, health screenings, and consultations. Pair this with dietitian programs that some grocery chains now offer, and you create a 360° wellness environment.
This model aligns with McKinsey’s vision of the “retail pharmacy of the future,” where pharmacies play an expanded role in primary care delivery and preventive health.
3. Community-Centered Values
Forward-looking grocery chains understand that consumers are seeking more than convenience — they want their choices to align with their values. By integrating pharmacy services, stores are in a powerful position to emphasize their commitment to health, community, and sustainability.
Eliminating Plastic Bags
Many grocers have phased out single-use plastic bags, a small but meaningful step toward reducing ocean waste and landfill pollution. It’s a signal that the store isn’t just a place to shop — it’s a community steward. Every bag-free checkout is a reminder of shared responsibility.
Pairing this with pharmacy services reinforces the message: “We care about your health, and we care about the health of the planet.”
On-Site Multi-Material Recycling
Some stores have gone further by offering multi-material recycling stations. Customers can bring back glass, plastic, cardboard, and even specialty materials that municipal systems don’t handle.
When customers visit for prescriptions or groceries, they can also drop off recyclables. This simple addition makes the store a hub for sustainable living, turning errands into opportunities for impact.
Sustainable Pharmacy Packaging: The Tully Tube
Parcel Health’s Tully Tube is a game-changer in aligning pharmacy with sustainability values. Traditional orange pill bottles are made from mixed plastics that are notoriously difficult to recycle. Many end up in landfills or, worse, waterways.
Tully Tube is:
Paper-based: Made from recyclable and compostable paper.
Food-safe: Engineered to surpass safety standards for medications, with food-safe coatings using Parcel Coat™ technology.
Recyclable: Designed to return safely into the recycling stream, not the waste stream.
According to The Pharmaceutical Journal, sustainable practices in pharmacy are becoming an essential part of modern healthcare, helping reduce carbon footprints and medical waste.³ By offering prescriptions in Tully Tubes, grocery store pharmacies send a clear message: wellness shouldn’t come at the expense of the environment.
4. Why Values Matter to Shoppers
The Rise of the Conscious Consumer
Consumers are voting with their dollars. They want brands and retailers that reflect their values — from fair labor to sustainability to community health. McKinsey notes that younger consumers in particular see sustainability and convenience as intertwined, not competing priorities.¹
By highlighting practices like eliminating plastic bags, offering recycling, and using sustainable packaging, grocery stores differentiate themselves in a crowded market.
Building Loyalty Through Alignment
Health and sustainability are deeply emotional topics. When a shopper sees that their grocery store pharmacy cares about their health and the planet, they’re more likely to stay loyal. Filling prescriptions in a Tully Tube or walking out with paper bags becomes more than an errand — it becomes a statement of identity.
Economic Advantages for Stores
Offering pharmacy services isn’t just altruism. It has direct benefits for grocery chains:
Increased foot traffic: Customers visiting for prescriptions often buy groceries at the same time.
Higher basket size: Health-conscious customers may spend more on fresh produce, supplements, or specialty foods.
Differentiation: In a competitive grocery market, sustainability and health integration set a store apart.
As Grocery Dive reports, pharmacies can be a “competitive advantage” for grocers, driving loyalty and revenue while reinforcing the store’s identity as a wellness destination.²
The Broader Picture: A Shift in Retail Healthcare
Healthcare is decentralizing. Pharmacies in grocery stores represent a broader shift toward community-based care, where everyday spaces double as access points for wellness.
With shortages in primary care providers and rising healthcare costs, accessible pharmacies play a growing role in preventive care. Vaccinations, screenings, and consultations at the grocery store save time, reduce strain on clinics, and meet patients where they are.
When paired with sustainability initiatives, grocery store pharmacies model the future of healthcare: healthier people, healthier communities, healthier planet.
The Shopper’s Experience
Picture this:
You drive to your neighborhood grocery store.
You bring along a bag of recyclables and drop them off at the in-store recycling center.
You swing by the pharmacy counter, where your prescription is ready in a Tully Tube — a recyclable, paper-based container that keeps your medicine safe without harming the planet.
While it’s being verified, you shop for groceries, noticing reusable bag displays and fresh local produce.
At checkout, you leave with dinner ingredients, your medication, and the satisfaction of supporting a retailer that aligns with your values.
This isn’t just convenience — it’s a holistic, values-driven experience.
The Future of Grocery Pharmacies
The benefits of filling prescriptions where you shop for groceries go far beyond saving time. It’s about creating synergy between health, sustainability, and convenience.
When a grocery store can say:
“We’ve eliminated plastic bags.”
“We recycle multi-materials on-site.”
“We’ve partnered with Parcel Health to offer Tully Tube packaging for prescriptions.”
…it sends a powerful message: Your health and the planet’s health matter to us.
For consumers, it means fewer errands, better health, and the satisfaction of aligning shopping with values. For grocery stores, it means loyalty, differentiation, and leadership in the future of sustainable wellness.
The grocery store pharmacy isn’t just about pills and produce. It’s about building a one-stop ecosystem for wellness and sustainability — and that’s a vision worth filling.
Sources:
McKinsey & Company. Meeting changing consumer needs: The US retail pharmacy of the future. 2023. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/meeting-changing-consumer-needs-the-us-retail-pharmacy-of-the-future
Grocery Dive. Pharmacies give grocers a competitive advantage. 2023. https://www.grocerydive.com/news/grocery--pharmacies-give-grocers-a-competitive-advantage/533959/
Pharmaceutical Journal. Principles of sustainable healthcare in pharmacy practice. 2022. https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/ld/principles-of-sustainable-healthcare-in-pharmacy-practice?