Amazon is preparing to overhaul part of a North Texas distribution center to help support its upcoming launch of same-day pharmacy delivery in Dallas.
By 2025, the e-commerce giant aims to offer same-day medication drop-offs to nearly half the country. As part of its efforts to provide the service in Dallas, a portion of a 180,000-square-foot DFW distribution center will be upgraded to facilitate the program. Throughout the country, Amazon will add modular pharmacies to warehouses that already offer same-day delivery for other products, helping speed up the program’s rollout by leveraging the company’s existing and vast logistics capabilities.
According to the company, the same-day offering will help close gaps caused by “pharmacy deserts,” neighborhoods, towns, or counties that lack access to pharmaceutical services.
In some jurisdictions, Amazon offers not just same-day delivery but drop-offs within 60 minutes. In College Station, Texas, for example, the e-commerce company provides the option to have medication dropped off via drone with no delivery fee within one hour of placing an order.
Like the drone operation, the new program will also be state-of-the-art. Amazon plans to leverage robotics and automation to keep prescription fulfillments moving quickly and smoothly.
The upgrade in Dallas will begin in February 2025 at the warehouse facility at 3051 Research Drive in Richardson. The estimated $1.6 million renovation is expected to be completed by the end of April, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Beyond Dallas, Amazon intends to start offering same-day delivery next year in Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Diego, and other still undisclosed markets. The service initially launched in Indianapolis, Miami, Phoenix, and Seattle before expanding to New York City and Los Angeles.
“We haven’t announced additional cities and will do so as plans become firm. Timing and details are still being determined, and delivery will be conducted by our standard vehicles,” an Amazon Pharmacy spokesperson told CoStar News.