Independent Pharmacies in the United States

An independent pharmacy is a retail pharmacy that is not directly affiliated with any chain of pharmacies and is not owned (or operated) by a publicly traded company. Independent pharmacies are pharmacist-owned, privately held businesses in varying practice settings. They include single-store operations, pharmacist-owned multiple store locations, franchise, compounding, long-term care (LTC), specialty, and supermarket pharmacy operation. Independent pharmacy owners generally have more flexibility to build personalized customer relationships and they strive to differentiate their services from big-chain corporations.

In 2010, there were 23,064 independent pharmacies in the U.S. Independent pharmacies dispensed approximately 1.5 billion prescriptions annually accounting for nearly 40% of the retail prescriptions. The average independent pharmacy had total sales of approximately $4 million and average prescription sales of approximately $3.7 million per location (accounting for 92.5% of all independent pharmacy sales). Over 26% of independent pharmacy owners have ownership in two or more pharmacies. The average independent community pharmacy location dispensed 64,169 prescriptions (205 per day) in 2010, up from 61,071 in 2005.

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