Wal-Mart to Open Prototype Pharmacy at U. of Arkansas

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., plans to open a retail pharmacy store called Walmart on Campus at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville this month. The first-of-its-kind store is to be sited in a 10,000-sq.ft. space in the campus' Garland Avenue Shops retail center that formerly held the Pat Walker Health Center Pharmacy, which closed December 20. The Pat Walker Health Center is the university's onsite health services provider.

The Health Center had operated the store as a specialty pharmacy since its opening in 1984, but had recently found it difficult to operate viably without a stronger retail component. The reopened store will offer not only pharmacy services but a variety of groceries and other retail items. It will also offer extended hours and be open not only to UA staff and students but also customers from the broader community.

“The Pat Walker Health Center anticipates a close working relationship with the Walmart on Campus,” says Executive Director Mary Alice Serafini. “We believe that the new retail pharmacy will serve our community well with extended hours, access to most prescription insurance plans and close proximity to our health center facility and many on-campus residents.”

“We are excited about the opportunity to partner with the university and to bring a great place for the students and the surrounding community to purchase prescriptions and other items,” says Walmart Associate Marketing Manager Keith Keltner. “This is Walmart's first store of its kind. Our full-service pharmacy that accepts a wide variety of insurance plans will be a great way to help the campus and neighborhood community save money with programs like $4 generic prescriptions.”

Wal-Mart has been busy testing smaller retail store models in order to fit more locations where its traditional “big box” stores can't go. Among its newer models are the 10,000-sq.ft. Marketside and 20,000-sq.ft. Neighborhood Market concepts. The traditional Walmart Supercenter, by contrast, averages 185,000 sq.ft.