Lund Buys In-Store PrairieStone Pharmacies

WENDY TOTH

EDINA, Minn. — Lund Food Holdings here will purchase its in-store pharmacy assets from PrairieStone Pharmacy, Minneapolis, this month.

PrairieStone, which operates pharmacies in Lunds, Byerly's and an eq-life store, as well as at Best Buy headquarters, will be acquired by Arcadia Resources, Southfield, Mich., this month.

The acquisition agreement requires PrairieStone to sell the in-store pharmacy assets of its 16 Lund pharmacies to Lund. The pharmacies will remain open under a five-year management agreement between PrairieStone and the retailer, and retain the PrairieStone Pharmacy name.

“When the transaction is completed, the in-store pharmacies at Lunds and Byerly's supermarkets will be solely owned by Lund Food Holdings,” Lund spokesman Douglas Kline told SN.

For PrairieStone, the business focus will shift from pharmacy owner to operator, manager and service provider. “We believe that divesting ourselves of pharmacy ownership allows us to focus exclusively on the licensed service offering to grocer retailers,” said Marvin Richardson, president, PrairieStone.

Richardson will continue his position and will take on additional management duties for Arcadia.

Lund, which before the acquisition was part owner of PrairieStone, will now completely own the patient files and the licenses of its pharmacists, but PrairieStone will continue to provide management expertise and the licensed services required to operate the pharmacies. “This change allows us to fully control the growth and success of our own network of in-store pharmacies,” said Tres Lund, Lund Food Holdings' chairman and chief executive officer.

Arcadia, a provider of home care services, hopes to combine its subsidiary, CareClinic, a retail medical clinic, with PrairieStone's automated pharmacy and licensed service model, the companies said. PrairieStone pharmacies use automated dispensing technology to allow the pharmacists to interact with customers in a footprint of just over 400 square feet.

The combination will allow supermarkets to place a complete health care offering within the space typically earmarked only for pharmacy, the companies said.

“We believe that PrairieStone complements the CareClinic offering, and collectively we can improve health care by making it more convenient, affordable and approachable through the grocery channel,” said Alan Lotvin, CEO of CareClinic.

“There will be no changes in the operations and service provided by PrairieStone Pharmacy at Lunds and Byerly's stores as result of the transaction,” Kline said.

Arcadia will also use PrairieStone's services in the home care market. For example, DailyMed, PrairieStone's medication packaging is arranged by the day and time it is to be taken. This will simplify medication administration for at-caregivers, Arcadia said.