KEASBEY, N.J. – Wakefern Food Corp., the retailer-owned supermarket cooperative, has partnered with iA, a leading provider of pharmacy fulfillment solutions, to launch a centralized pharmacy fulfillment system. The new facility will streamline prescription dispensing and backend pharmacy operations, enabling ShopRite Pharmacies to enhance efficiency while delivering more personalized care to patients.
The 12,000-square-foot centralized fulfillment center, which is expected to open early next year, will serve pharmacies at 149 ShopRite stores and two The Fresh Grocer locations in the Northeast. The fill center will operate at a Wakefern facility and help free up store pharmacists to spend more time consulting with patients, answering questions, and connecting them with nutrition resources to support their wellness goals. The technology will also work in tandem with ShopRite’s digital tools, including the ShopRite Rx app, which helps customers manage prescriptions, request refills and stay connected to their local pharmacy.
As retail pharmacies continue to face industry pressures — including reimbursement challenges, rising prescription volumes and increasing operational complexity — enhanced centralized fulfillment models are being adopted to enable more scalable and efficient prescription dispensing, while allowing pharmacy teams to focus more on patient-facing care. New team members will be hired to operate the Wakefern centralized pharmacy fulfillment system, which will fill thousands of prescriptions each day and support more efficient backend pharmacy operations.
“Our ShopRite Pharmacies sit at a unique intersection of medicine and food — two essential drivers of everyday health,” said Aaron Sapp, vice president of Pharmacy and Wellness at Wakefern. “This centralized fulfillment system will help better coordinate our behind-the-scenes pharmacy operations, allowing our pharmacy teams to focus on delivering more personalized care to the customers we serve in stores every day.”
“We’re proud to partner with Wakefern as they advance their ShopRite Pharmacy operations through a centralized fulfillment model,” said Tom Utech, iA CEO. “This approach combines intelligent software and data-driven insights to enhance consistency, improve efficiency and give pharmacy teams more time to focus on what matters most — caring for their patients.”
Wakefern is the largest retailer-owned supermarket cooperative in the United States, encompassing member companies that independently own and operate nearly 380 supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage, Fairway Market, Di Bruno Bros. and Morton Williams banners. Wakefern Members currently operate an in-store network of 151 pharmacies.
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