The pharmacies in all three of Springfield’s remaining County Market locations, as well as one in Chatham, will permanently close as of June 12. All ongoing prescriptions have been purchased by CVS. Customers will be able to fill their prescriptions at any CVS location in Springfield, according to a spokesperson for Quincy-based Niemann Foods, which owns the County Market chain.
“This will make it far more difficult for people in the downtown area of Springfield to get their prescribed medication,” said Garth Reynolds, CEO of the Illinois Pharmacy Association. “It looks very much like a growing pharmacy desert,” he added, pointing out that not all pharmacy users have equal mobility and that low-income and elderly customers could be disproportionately affected. According to Reynolds, 85 pharmacies have closed throughout the state of Illinois in the past year.
In Springfield, the area surrounding downtown had six pharmacies just eight years ago, but will only have one left following the County Market closure. In February 2017, CVS closed its location at 611 South Grand Ave. and Walgreens closed a store at 1155 N. Ninth St. In 2023, Walgreens closed its location at the intersection of Fifth Street and South Grand Avenue and CVS closed a store at Ninth Street and North Grand Avenue. CVS still operates a store at Second and Carpenter streets, across from County Market.
“The pharmacy business is a tough business to be in, especially when it’s not your core business,” said Gerry Kettler of Niemann Foods. “We were approached by CVS and Walgreens and we made the tough but necessary decision to sell to CVS. That’s as simple as it gets. We decided to take this opportunity as the best option for the pharmacy centers and our company.”
The reasons behind decreased pharmacy options locally and nationwide are complex and far-reaching. “The big insurance companies that cover people's prescriptions, they weren't around when I started practicing,” recalled retired pharmacist John Watt, formerly of Springfield’s Watt Brothers Pharmacy. “Way back when, people paid cash or ran charge accounts for their prescriptions. Then when the United Auto Workers set aside some money in their contract talks for a drug program in the 1970s, that changed things considerably.”
Other more recent factors Watt identified as making things harder for pharmacies include the increased prevalence of mail order prescriptions and the use of third-party pharmacy benefit managers, who, he said, “tell stores what they can sell and how much to charge and then claw back some of the charges at a later date.”
Looking forward, there is reason for hope, even if it has arrived too late for the County Market pharmacies. The Prescription Drug Affordability Act (HB 1697), which recently passed the Senate and House and is now waiting to be signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker, takes aim at these specific issues and others, with particular attention to reigning in pharmacy benefit managers, which Pritzker characterized as “predatory” in a statement.
"The House bill passing is a good thing,” said Reynolds. “It will help protect independent pharmacies statewide and make sure that people have access to them.”
The affected County Market locations are: 1903 W. Monroe St., 210 E. Carpenter St., 1501 S. Dirksen Parkway and 1099 Jason Place, Chatham.
