PENDLETON — The long lines at local pharmacy checkouts may grow even longer, as Bi-Mart pharmacies close and ship customer files to other locations.

Don Leber, Bi-Mart vice president of marketing and advertising, explained the situation in an interview Thursday, Oct. 28. As Bi-Mart sold its pharmacies to Walgreens, most Bi-Mart pharmacies began closing — 56 in the Northwest, including 37 in Oregon. In cities where there is a Walgreens, Bi-Mart is sending customer files to Walgreens.

Several towns, however, do not have a nearby Walgreens pharmacy, which is the case for Bi-Marts in Hermiston, Pendleton, Baker City and La Grande. The distance from one of these locations to the nearest Walgreens pharmacy — in Kennewick, Ontario or Walla Walla — would involve a drive of more than 30 miles to around 100 miles, depending on location.

As commutes to distant pharmacies is impractical, Leber said arrangements are in the works to send customer files to other pharmacies.

The Hermiston Bi-Mart pharmacy, which closed Oct. 26, began transferring files to the Hermiston Safeway pharmacy Oct. 27, Leber said. Pendleton’s files are going to the pharmacy at the towns’s Safeway as well on Nov. 11, the day after Bi-Mart’s last day of operations, Leber said. The La Grande Bi-Mart pharmacy is likely to transfer files to Safeway, too, though a deal was not yet confirmed, Leber said. The transition would occur in mid-November.

On Oct. 28, Leber said he did not know where Baker City files would be shipped. Discussions over their transfer were ongoing. He said the Baker City Bi-Mart pharmacy would be open into November and would not close before a decision was made.

He added these dates are subject to change.

Leber said Walgreens will keep 10 Oregon Bi-Mart pharmacies open. These pharmacies will operate under the Walgreens name. The list of 10 had yet to be confirmed by Thursday.

The problem of closing pharmaciesU.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, released a letter Oct. 20 referencing the Bi-Mart sale. In the letter, he expressed his “deep concerns about these closures.”

Wyden, in the letter, alludes also to fees that impose “financial strain” on pharmacies, which has caused 2,200 U.S. pharmacies to close. His letter calls for a “formal review of pharmacy closures in the U.S. in the last five years” and for regulation of fees.

Leber said that these fees, which Wyden sees as a problem, cost Bi-Mart millions of dollars every year. This is forcing the company to make this decision to exit the pharmacy business.

“We could no longer do it at a profit,” he said. “Long haul, it would put Bi-Mart in jeopardy.”