Amazon is getting into the pharmacy business in California.
The online mega-retailer on Wednesday, May 29, officially opened its first pharmacy in the state. Located in an industrial area of Corona in western Riverside County, the pharmacy near the 15 and 91 freeways promises to deliver prescription drugs — often within hours — using the same infrastructure that puts other goods on customers’ doorsteps.
Once fully ramped up, the pharmacy, which technically opened in March, will deliver medication to the Inland Empire, Orange County and the greater Los Angeles area, including West Hollywood, Torrance and Long Beach.
“Our mission with Pharmacy is to make it easier for people to get and stay healthy,” John Love, Amazon Pharmacy vice president, said before a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “It’s that simple.”
David Ambroz, Amazon’s head of community engagement in Southern California, said the pharmacy leverages “Amazon’s world-class logistics network” to “provide fast, free and convenient delivery of prescription medications right to the customer’s door.”
Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel helped cut the ribbon.
“There’s more to this than the pills,” said Spiegel, a former Corona mayor who represents the city on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. “It’s about the people and I get excited about the job opportunities that are now available” through the pharmacy.
One of 12 Amazon Pharmacy locations nationwide, the Corona pharmacy is next to an existing Amazon fulfillment center — a warehouse where goods are brought in, categorized, packaged and shipped in an elaborate process involving computers, forklifts, conveyor belts and bustling, vest-wearing employees.
The pharmacy, Love said, operates like any retail pharmacy.
It’s in a much smaller room than the cavernous fulfillment center, with rows of shelves and medication sitting in bins with brightly colored labels in an environment where sterile safety glasses are required.
More than 1,000 medications are available at the pharmacy, Love said. The pharmacy itself isn’t a walk-up facility and sits behind two sets of locked doors.
“One of the benefits of (the) pharmacy, from a shipping and a delivery (standpoint), is it’s light and small,” Love added. “So there’s a lot of medications that we can sort in a fairly small amount of space.”
A machine resembling a smart fridge contains frequently prescribed pills and sits behind the pharmacists’ station. Two computer panels let pharmacists review medications and spot any potential problems, such as a pill that might conflict with a patient’s other medication, for example.
After that, to protect patients’ privacy, medications are packaged and labeled in Amazon packages resembling anything else that someone might order. From there, the packages are sent to the fulfillment center, where a seemingly endless procession of drivers push package-laden carts to deliver on their rounds.
Amazon plans to give price estimates to customers before they order medication — a move Love and others hope convinces people who think they can’t afford their medicine to fill their prescriptions.
“We hear these terrible stories of people going up and having a really embarrassing moment,” Love said. “You might be at a physical pharmacy in your neighborhood and you get in line and they tell you the price of the medicine and you can’t afford the medication.”
Launched in 2020, Amazon’s other locations include New York City, Seattle, Indianapolis, Miami and Phoenix. Its entry into the pharmacy market caused the stock of competitor GoodRx to fall 22.5%, with the stock of Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS taking a hit as well, CNBC reported in 2020.
Spiegel said it’s an honor that Corona is the first California location.
“It’s one of those things that time, money, whatever the reason is (for not filling a prescription), you’ve now taken that away and that’s what’s amazing,” she said.