CVS has long dominated the drug store market in Massachusetts, but with Walgreens’ planned purchase of Rite Aid, CVS will suddenly face some strong competition.
The $17.2-billion deal announced this week, which will undergo federal review before it is finalized, would make Walgreens a close second to CVS in terms of store count statewide.
There are 148 Rite Aid stores and 164 Walgreens stores statewide, for a total of 312 locations, which is not far behind CVS’s 356 locations, according to a Globe review of data from the companies’ respective websites.
Analysts have said they believe that Walgreens would shutter some overlapping Rite Aid stores if the deal is completed.
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But in some communities Walgreens will gain a foothold it has never had before. Rite Aid owns a total of 58 stores in 49 different Massachusetts towns and cities where Walgreens currently owns none.
Boston will remain a CVS stronghold, with 42 CVS stores, compared with 27 combined for the other two chains.
See a town-by-town breakdown below:
A CVS spokesman provided a store list for Massachusetts, while officials at the other two companies referred the Globe to their websites.
Matt Rocheleau can be reached at matthew.rocheleau@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mrochele