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Jim Tsipakis made his mark at Giant Eagle in health care, first as senior vice president of pharmacy and subsequently as executive vice president of pharmacy, health and wellness. In that capacity and with the support of his team, he re-energized that part of the business. Today, Tsipakis, who was named president of supermarkets and pharmacy nearly two years ago, is working closely with Giant Eagle CEO Bill Artman and the executive leadership team to do the same for the company as a whole by leveraging synergies across the store.
Trained as a pharmacist, Tsipakis joined Giant Eagle, one of the nation’s premier regional grocery and pharmacy chains, in 2017, after rising through the ranks at Supervalu and Albertsons. He wasted no time in raising the profile of the pharmacy department and putting it on a growth track.
“Our pharmacy business has never been stronger. We continue to grow and fill the needs of our guests,” Tsipakis says. “With all the disruption that’s occurred in the communities we serve, we’ve been that strong pillar of consistent hours, consistent services and, more important, the pharmacy that our guests can count on, with an amazing food store around it.”
Tsipakis and the Giant Eagle leadership team are hard at work reimagining how the retailer ensures that its 200-plus supermarkets across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana continue to be a one-stop shopping resource for today’s consumer.
“We continue to make progress on that every day,” Tsipakis explains. “My background is in health care, but now I’m excited to be integrated with the food side of our business, because I’ve always had a penchant for bringing those sides together.
“I’m pleased with how collaborative our teams are, always thinking about the guest, whether the guest is buying pharmaceuticals, O-T-Cs or food for their family. Each line of business is important. The trick is how do you bring all that Giant Eagle offers together to meet the customer holistically versus in silos. That is a core tenet of ours, our North Star — how do we continue to provide innovative services and products while taking a 360-degree view of what the customer needs.”
Momentum behind the idea of food as medicine is accelerating. Tsipakis asserts that Giant Eagle is ideally positioned to help shoppers understand the concept and act on it.
“When you think about it, you are what you eat,” he says. “The challenge is how do we create this intersection between food and pharmacy to help our guests navigate food choices and live happier and healthier lives.”
The surge in GLP-1 usage illustrates the role that Giant Eagle can play. Prescribed for both weight loss and diabetes care, the effectiveness of the medications is maximized when accompanied by changes in diet and lifestyle.
“The whole industry is seeing the impact of GLP-1s,” notes Tsipakis. “There’s a shift in the type of foods and the quantity of foods that consumers taking GLP-1s are purchasing. Even if they’re losing a lot of weight, people still have to eat and still need medication. It’s a question of how they shift from certain products to other products and how do we help those customers.
“We will continue to pivot and meet customers where they are. There’s a continual opportunity for us to help support evolving consumption patterns and bring attention to other products and services that maybe folks weren’t interested in or didn’t know about. We can do that within our holistic space.”
Even as Giant Eagle fine-tunes its business model to capitalize on synergies between the food and health, the retailer hasn’t lost sight of its customers’ quest for value. With food prices still high and inflation ticking up, the company is increasingly focused on maximizing value.
“Today’s consumer is very cautious,” Tsipakis says. “Prices for all of the normal day-to-day things — from fuel for cars to rent and mortgage payments and food — are up year over year and continue to rise. Consumers are looking for more value and how they can stretch that dollar. I’m really proud of our company in that respect. Every day we look for ways that we can continue to help our guests cope with food price inflation by leveraging our Own Brands, promotions, everyday savings and our myPerks loyalty platform.
“Since the COVID pandemic, we’ve seen continued customer trends prioritizing value, convenience and one-stop shopping for their pharmacy and grocery needs. There’s a huge opportunity for us to support these customer trends. Whether it’s literacy on how customers cook and prepare meals or literacy around how customers can use their medications more effectively or literacy on how we help customers stretch their dollar with more value, we are in a great position to do just that.”
