Walgreens Purchases Independent Pharmacies in Farmington Hills, Taylor

Warren Prescriptions, of Farmington Hills, and Sax Pharmacy, of Taylor, are the latest local independent pharmacies to be converted into retail drugstores.

Mark Klar, who has owned the pharmacies for more than 30 years, has sold his businesses to retail giant Walgreens.

“We are glad our customers and employees will continue to have a convenient destination for pharmacy services,” Klar said.

Many employees from the pharmacies have accepted offers to work at Walgreens and will continue to be familiar faces for local residents, the Observer & Eccentric reports.

The new Walgreens stores will offer residents an expanded products section and more services, including immunizations.

“We know that the Sax and Warren staff has worked over many years to establish a relationship of trust with the community it served,” said Kevin Schmidt, vice president of operations management for Walgreens. “We value and want to preserve those relationships and as we transition to Walgreens, customers will see many familiar faces in our stores.”

“Our hope is to build upon those relationships and improve both service and product selection,” Schmidt added.

As retail giants such as Walgreens and CVS have expanded since the 1980s, independent pharmacies have been increasingly converted into retail drugstores, Kevin Schweers, senior vice president of the National Community Pharmacist Association, told The Chicago Tribune.

The report saids that independent pharmacies make up only 30 percent of the drugstore market today.

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PHOTO: Walgreens has purchased Sax Pharmacy and Warren Prescriptions, two pharmacies that served Farmington Hills and Taylor communities (Photo courtesy of the Walgreens Facebook Page).