Nov 20, 2020,09:00am EST
Bruce Japsen Senior Contributor
Walmart is opening two new “Walmart
Health” centers in Chicago neighborhoods marred earlier this year by rioting
and unrest triggered by police brutality as part of a “renewed commitment to a
city that has been through a lot,” the giant
retailer said Friday.
The health centers, which feature an
array of primary medical services as part of a new model being replicated
across the country, are located on Chicago’s under-served neighborhoods on the
city’s South and West sides.
Executives said the new centers build
on the first 10,000 square foot facility that opened last
fall in Dallas, Georgia, where Walmart
shoppers and patients in the community have taken to the
concept. Other sites are 6,000 square feet or more in Georgia, Florida and
Arkansas.
But these new Chicago centers are
different in that they are Walmart’s first urban Walmart Health locations.
“(Friday), we opened two new Walmart
Health locations, adjacent to two newly-remodeled Walmart Supercenters, in the
Chicago neighborhoods of Chatham and Austin,” Walmart vice president of
community engagement and support Keith Wyche said Friday in a blogpost on
Walmart’s website. “These spaces stand as a renewed commitment
to a city that has been through a lot this year – and has proven time and again
that it can emerge from any challenge with renewed ambitions. It’s an attitude
we’re trying to emulate.”
The announcement Friday comes after
Walmart chief executive officer Doug McMillon this summer in Chicago said all
seven Walmart stores that closed will be re-opened this year after they were
damaged from May 29 through June 1 in Chicago following nationwide protests
that followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police
officer.
But the decision to rebuild the
Chicago stores includes Walmart bringing its new “Walmart Health” approach to two
of the retailer’s supercenter locations on the South and West sides of the city
to include myriad new healthcare services attached and inside stores that
include physician services.
“We heard that we should open stores
that create real, lasting opportunity in the communities they call home. . .
so we did,” Wyche said of the entire Chicago inner city rebuilding
effort. “The project and community investments total more than $50 million, and
we’ll move forward working with local vendors and contractors on everything
fromeventual remodels to routine maintenance. In celebration of opening, the
two stores are giving more than $80,000 to local organizations.”
The new centers, like the first
“Walmart Health” brand center in Dallas, Georgia, offer more services than the
19 “Care
Clinics” that take up about 1,500 square feet inside stores
elsewhere in Georgia, South Carolina and Texas. The retailer says the Care
Clinics remain an important part of their healthcare offerings, but are more
limited in service.
The move by Walmart Health into
Chicago, and other markets comes as CVS Health opens hundreds
of “HealthHubs” which include additional health and wellness
items and services beyond what’s already available in the drugstore chain’s
MinuteClinics. Meanwhile, Walgreens Boots Alliance has been partnering with an
array of companies including an investment of more than $1 billion into the
primary care company VillageMD. Walgreens is also testing everything from
urgent care in attached centers operated by UnitedHealth Group’s Optum
MedExpress unit to Partners in Primary Care Clinics for Medicare beneficiaries
that are operated by Humana.
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