Farmacias El Amal

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Farmacias El Amal
Type	Privately Held
Founded	1973
Headquarters	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Key people	Saleh Yassin, President and CEO
Products	Retail-Pharmacy-Photo
Revenue	200+ million USD
Employees	1500+

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Farmacias El Amal, is regional pharmacy chain operating throughout Puerto Rico. It operates more than 60 pharmacies across Puerto Rico. The chain is privately held and was founded in 1973.

Farmacias El Amal stores also contain cosmetics, photo departments as well as a basic pantry department. Farmacias El Amal is best known for its Pasaporte a la Salud Loyalty Card and aggressive promotions including their Black Friday Sales. Its largest competitors are Walgreen Co., Kmart, and Walmart.

[edit] History

This chain started out as a single drugstore in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1973. The chain slowly expanded throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s by opening several additional drugstores mostly in the Carolina & San Juan Metropolitan areas. By 1994, the chain had grown to 12 drugstores. During the 80's and 90's, Farmacias El Amal were characterized by their unique aisle layout (a diagonal V) and above average square footage.

In 1995, Farmacias El Amal acquired Farmacias Moscoso increasing its store count to 45 drugstores. The company proceeded to modernize its store base installing POS and Pharmacy systems. The company also remodelled, relocated and opened many new stores through out the 1990's and early 2000's. Today, the chain has 60 locations across Puerto Rico.

Jan. 17, 2008 – Walgreens will acquire 20 drugstores from Farmacias El Amal. El Amal will continue operating its other 41 stores in Puerto Rico. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and it is subject to customary closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar 2008.

Once the agreement is finalized, work will begin on converting the El Amal stores to Walgreens, including remodeling and changing the store names.

Walgreens is a nationwide pharmacy chain that operates 73 stores in Puerto Rico. The company has operated on the island since 1960.