Wakefern Food Corp., the Keasbey-headquartered retailer-owned supermarket cooperative, has announced plans to establish a 12,000-square-foot centralized pharmacy fulfillment center in partnership with pharmacy solutions leader iA®.
Slated to open early next year, the new facility will handle high-volume prescription dispensing and streamline backend operations for pharmacies across 149 ShopRite locations and two The Fresh Grocer stores throughout the Northeast.
The strategic rollout addresses mounting operational challenges across the retail pharmacy sector, including rising prescription volumes, staffing shortages, and heightened pharmacist burnout. By automating routine dispensing tasks at the centralized Wakefern facility, store-level pharmacists will be freed up to spend more direct, quality time consulting with patients, addressing health questions, and connecting them with in-store wellness and nutrition resources.
“Our ShopRite Pharmacies sit at a unique intersection of medicine and food — two essential drivers of everyday health,” Aaron Sapp, vice president of Pharmacy and Wellness at Wakefern, said. “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.”
The new centralized system will integrate seamlessly with existing customer tools, such as the ShopRite Rx app, which allows patients to manage prescriptions and request refills digitally. The facility is expected to process thousands of prescriptions daily and will create new local employment opportunities to staff the automated operations.
“We’re proud to partner with Wakefern as they advance their ShopRite Pharmacy operations through a centralized fulfillment model,” Tom Utech, iA CEO, said. “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.”
As the largest retailer-owned supermarket cooperative in the United States, Wakefern’s member companies currently oversee a network of 151 in-store pharmacies spanning multiple banners across the region.
