RENTON, Wash. — CVS/pharmacy has opened its first store in the Pacific Northwest.

The 12,500-square-foot store made its debut earlier this month in the Seattle suburb of Renton. The chain drug store operator has two more stores planned for the region this year, in Poulsbo, Wash., and in the Seattle suburb of Burien.

In addition, CVS plans to open its first Seattle store next summer in the city’s Wallingford ­neighborhood.

“We are pleased to open our first store in Washington state and bring CVS/pharmacy’s best-in-class, patient-centered medication management programs; wellness services; preventive and chronic disease management; and high-quality health, beauty and personal care offerings to the Seattle market,” comments Helena Foulkes, president of CVS/pharmacy.
CVS/pharmacy is the last of the big pharmacy retailers to arrive in the region.

Rite Aid Corp. has had a presence there since 1996 when it acquired Thrifty PayLess Holdings Inc., owner of the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains. Walgreen Co. has also had a presence in western Washington since the 1990s. It now operates more than 130 Walgreens stores in the Puget Sound area.

Giving the big chains a run for their money in the Seattle area is homegrown and family-owned Bartell Drugs, which opened its first store in 1890.

CVS officials say that the Renton store was among the first in the chain to open without offering cigarettes or other tobacco products. The Woonsocket, R.I.-based company announced in February that it would stop selling tobacco products and set an October 1 deadline for removing them from existing stores.