Brick-and-Mortar Pharmacy Satisfaction Lags Behind Supermarket, Mail Order Pharmacies

According to the J.D. Power 2025 US Pharmacy Study, customer satisfaction with mail order pharmacies is steadily increasing as the prominence of brick-and-mortar pharmacies declines.¹ With a significant reduction in satisfaction with brick-and-mortar locations, customers are now reporting the most satisfaction toward supermarkets and mass-market retailers for their medication needs.

“Chain drugstore customers are significantly more likely than supermarket or mass market merchandiser pharmacy customers to say they ‘definitely will’ or ‘probably will’ switch pharmacies in the next 12 months,” Christopher Lis, managing director of global health care intelligence at J.D. Power, said in a news release.¹ “That openness to switching, combined with steadily increasing satisfaction scores at mail order pharmacies, helps set the stage for a tipping point in the pharmacy space.”

Brick-and-mortar pharmacies have been closing at a persistent and alarming rate throughout most of the 21st century. Amid significant numbers of Walgreens and CVS closures, as well as Rite Aid filing for bankruptcy, nearly 1 in 3 pharmacies operating in the US between 2010 and 2020 had shut down by 2021.² Furthermore, according to independent pharmacy operator and advocate Benjamin Jolley, PharmD, 2275 pharmacies closed within the first 9 months of 2024.³

Every year, J.D. Power explores customer satisfaction with brick-and-mortar, mail order, supermarket, and mass market retail pharmacies. | image credit: sorapop / stock.adobe.com

READ MORE: Pharmacy Closures Limiting Access to Preventative Patient Care

Regardless of the trajectory brick-and-mortar locations have been headed on over the last 15 years, J.D. Power’s 2024 report still had these pharmacies ranked higher in customer satisfaction than mail order, supermarket, and mass market retail pharmacies. Indeed, the highest-rated chain drugstore (Good Neighbor Pharmacy) was more satisfactory than the highest-rated mail order pharmacy, PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy.⁴

However, trends from the 2024 report continued in 2025, showing that satisfaction with chain drugstores has dipped below that of supermarkets such as Wegmans and mass market retailers such as Sam’s Club. In addition to alternative pharmacy locations gradually taking over, mail order pharmacies are also on the rise.

Ultimately, with continuous declines in the satisfaction with and prominence of the drugstores the US has always gravitated toward, the pharmacy industry is at a tipping point that could forever change how patients are dispensed prescription drugs and medication services.¹

Chain drugstores saw a minimal increase in average customer satisfaction scores over the past year, increasing by 1 point from 642 to 643. However, when compared with their competitors, chain drugstores are significantly falling behind.

“Despite the incremental improvement, satisfaction scores for chain drug stores are 54 points lower than the average satisfaction score for mail order pharmacies (697), 63 points lower than mass market merchandisers (706), and 72 points lower than supermarkets (715),” wrote the authors of the report.¹ “Mail order pharmacies show the largest year-over-year gains in satisfaction, rising 7 points to 697 in 2025.”

Chain drugstores are gradually declining as the least satisfactory drug dispensing destination compared with supermarkets, mass retailers, and mail order pharmacies. The report states that supermarkets and mass retailers are outperforming brick-and-mortar locations in staffing, trust in their pharmacists, ease in filling prescriptions, and timing.

The report authors further highlighted the “digital tipping point” facing the pharmacy industry regarding the increase in mail order pharmacy customer satisfaction. While only 67% of survey respondents claimed they were aware of digital pharmacies, 63% of those individuals were “somewhat” or “very” interested in using a digital pharmacy to fill their prescriptions.

Aside from customers’ feelings and preferences toward pharmacy locations, external financial pressures have made the sustainability of chain drugstores increasingly difficult in the US. As independent and chain drugstores continue to face hardships from declining reimbursements and staff burnout, they will also have to navigate the mass migration of customers who are starting to prefer alternative pharmacy locations.

However, although brick-and-mortar pharmacies are in a dire situation, experts believe mass-market retailers and supermarkets will capitalize on the opportunity created by chain stores closing across the country.

“The US Pharmacy Study, now in its 17th year, measures customer satisfaction with brick-and-mortar and mail order pharmacies,” concluded the authors of the report.¹ “The 2025 study is based on responses from 14,700 pharmacy customers who filled a prescription within the past 12 months and was fielded from May 2024 through May 2025.”

To see how these trends have evolved in the past year, check out our article on J.D. Power’s 2024 US Pharmacy Study: Patient Satisfaction with Mail Order Pharmacies Increases, but Shrinks for Chain Stores

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REFERENCES

1. Chain drug store closures create big opportunities for supermarkets, mass merchandisers, and online pharmacies, J.D. Power finds. News release. J.D. Power. July 29, 2025. Accessed July 29, 2025. https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2025-us-pharmacy-study

2. Nearly 30% of US drugstores closed in one decade, study shows. US News & World Report. December 3, 2024. Accessed July 29, 2025. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-12-03/nearly-30-of-us-drugstores-closed-in-one-decade-study-shows

3. Jolley B. 2275 pharmacies have closed so far in 2024. Ramblings of a pharmacist. September 17, 2024. Accessed July 29, 2025. https://benjaminjolley.substack.com/p/2275-pharmacies-have-closed-so-far

4. As mail order pharmacies continue to climb in customer satisfaction, chain drug stores fall behind, J.D. Power finds. News release. J.D. Power. July 30, 2024. Accessed July 29, 2025. https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2024-us-pharmacy-study