Kroger Proposes Freestanding Pharmacy Kiosk

SN STAFF

ROANOKE, Va. — Kroger’s Mid-Atlantic Division wants to build its first freestanding pharmacy kiosk in conjunction with a plan to expand retail tenants at the Towne Square Shopping Center here in order to attract more shoppers to Kroger’s 54,153-square-foot supermarket.

The kiosk would take up 18 existing parking spaces in the front parking lot of the supermarket. It is estimated the kiosk would draw one or two vehicles per hour, according to the local planning commission that is considering a variance for the kiosk. The commission plans to vote on it Sept. 22.

The kiosk design is similar to drive-through ATMs. Prescription drugs would be delivered through an underground pneumatic tube system from the in-store pharmacy to the vehicle at the drive-through. Kroger currently operates a drive-through pharmacy attached to the existing supermarket, which also hosts a Kroger fuel center, according to media reports. But the store drive-through is to become a remote kiosk in order to accommodate a proposed new building to house four new tenants for the shopping center.

This is not Kroger’s first remote pharmacy kiosk, but it would be one of a few the retailer operates nationwide, Carl York, a Kroger spokesman, told the Roanoke Times. SN could not reached York for further comment.