Walgreens opened a micro-fulfillment center in Kent, Washington, on July 22 in an effort to boost prescription processing, a spokesperson for the company told Supply Chain Dive in an email.
The facility is equipped with robotic technology and will process millions of prescriptions weekly, with 7 million prescriptions to be processed a year, the spokesperson said, adding that the site will support nearly 196 stores, including 122 in Washington.
The Kent facility is part of Walgreens’ efforts to grow and leverage micro-fulfillment centers after pausing the effort in 2023. During the pause, the company reviewed its strategy because the “experience at the last mile was not what we wanted it to be,” former CEO Tim Wentworth said in a Q1 2025 earnings call.
However, last spring, Walgreens rekindled its micro-fulfillment initiative by opening a facility in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. The company said it has realized improvement in shipped volumes and prescriptions filled per month from such facilities. Walgreens now has a total of 14 micro-fulfillment centers, including the Kent site, according to the company's jobs website.
Amid the renewed focus on micro-fulfillment centers, the pharmacy retailer is making additional adjustments to its network, announcing in February it planned to close a distribution center in Houston.
