Insider Retail: Logistics startups look to micro-warehouses and the vaccine rollout hits retail stores

CVS NYC — CVS list: diapers, hand sanitizer, COVID-19 vaccine.

Noam Galai/Getty Images

Big “ICYMI” energy in the newsletter today. Look, we get it. There was some other big news this week. But Insider’s retail team always has you covered when it comes to the biggest retail business stories.

This week’s edition covers retailers, like CVS, Kroger, and Walgreens, rolling out vaccines. And we take a look at a startup that’s turning vacant retail stores into micro-warehouses for e-commerce orders.

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How Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, and other retailers plan to leverage tech, convenience, and public trust to get the chaotic mass vaccine rollout back on track

Coronavirus vaccine — Pharmacies are finding themselves with leftover coronavirus vaccines, meaning some people can score a shot early with the right planning.

Jessica Hill/AP Photo

It’s no secret that the vaccine rollout has been less-than-smooth. Could retailers help get things back on track? Well, they certainly hope so. It’s not the craziest idea. As Alvin Tran, a social epidemiologist at the University of New Haven told our reporters, these brands lend name recognition, trust, and their own technology to the process.

Drug stores also aren’t the only retailers who want a piece of the vaccine story:

Amazon’s Dave Clark has some advice
Washington state recruits Starbucks to help with its COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Logistics startup Fabric has raised $136 million to build shipping warehouses in unused real estate like retail stores and gyms

Here’s a trend for you all: Retail stores close as consumers flock to e-commerce during the pandemic. Logistics startups then use vacant retail space as micro-warehouses to fulfill e-commerce orders. Our Correspondent Madeline Stone wrote about Fabric, a big player in this particular retail life cycle story.

Fascinated by the micro-warehousing trend? You’ve come to the right newsletter.

Meet the 4 startups helping retailers compete with Amazon by tapping into micro-warehouses across the US
How a debilitating injury left this founder reliant on on-demand delivery and inspired to create a startup that helps DTC companies expedite shipping speeds by using micro-warehouses

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