How Is Retail Winning at Health? Walmart, Target, Kroger & the Two Speeds of Retail Health (#80)

In April 2024 Walmart closed 51 health clinics, and everybody called it retail's exit from healthcare. By the summer of 2026 Walmart is bigger in health than before. In this weekly update, Christophe Jauquet and Thalia Muses unpack why retail never left health: it learned that health comes in two speeds, and which speed to use where. Signals from Walmart, Target, Kroger, Instacart, Sam's Club, Holland & Barrett, Hy-Vee, Kaufland, Assaí, KIWI, Colruyt, Olive Better, Müller, Costco, Lawson and Dreams.The two speeds of retail healthOne part of health has rules attached: licences, qualified professionals, rooms built a certain way. Retail moves carefully there. The other part has no rules at all: price, pack size, shelf position, opening hours. Retail has been good at that for a hundred years, so there it moves at full speed.Healthusiasms in this episodeKaufland × Sana (Mosbach, Germany, Nov 2025): a 54 m² telemedicine practice before the checkout. The hospital group holds the licence; the retailer provides the floor space.Assaí (Brazil, Jul 2026): its own pharmacies inside its own stores after the law changed, in a closed room with a qualified pharmacist.KIWI (Norway, Aug 2026): leaner minced meat permanently cheaper than the fatty one. Healthier products up about 35% year on year (company figures).Colruyt (Belgium, Aug 2026): child-sized packs with age labels. No nutrition lecture, just the right size.Olive Better (Seoul, Jan 2026): 3,000 wellness products from 500+ brands; 1.8 million first-time wellness buyers in five months.Target (US, Jan 2026): wellness range up 30%, thousands of products under $10. And 70% of Target shoppers were already buying wellness there.Holland & Barrett (UK, Jul 2026): a GLP-1 support range in 400 stores, plus a Pfhlo partnership for virtual medical consultations.Hy-Vee (US Midwest, Jul 2026): a six-week dietitian-led programme for people on weight-loss medication.Sam's Club × Weight Watchers (US, Jul 2026): Weight Watchers inside a warehouse-club membership, including the clinical GLP-1 programme at a discount. Sam's Club belongs to Walmart.Kroger × Instacart (US, Aug 2026): prescriptions and groceries in one order, one van.Müller Gesundheitswelt (Uster, Switzerland, Aug 2026): dermocosmetics, OTC medicines, supplements, self-tests, blood pressure monitors and an AI advice tool in one 120 m² health world.Three unusual HealthusiasmsDreams × Mind & SAMH (UK, Jun 2026): a mattress retailer funds mental-health charities, backed by a survey on lost sleep. A real partnership, a real number, and an untested claim underneath.Costco × SCAN (US, Aug 2026): Costco-branded health insurance plans, pending approval. Retail moves into insurance.Lawson (Japan, 4 Aug 2026): a convenience store built for an ageing 1971 housing estate. Fresh food, a pharmacy, a help desk for phones, money and paperwork, solar backup. One hundred planned by 2030.Why it mattersHealth left the hospital and went shopping. Price, pack and the shop around the corner are exactly the part of health the healthcare system never took care of, because nobody was ever paid to do it. This is the Copernican Health Revolution standing in a supermarket aisle: the hospital becomes one of many places where health happens, and for most people, most weeks, not the main one. Weight-loss medication showed that retail can build around a chronic condition during a shopping moment. Diabetes, heart failure and cancer recovery come next, and retail cannot do that alone. It owns the aisles, the prices and the packs; pharma, hospitals and patient organisations own the knowledge.The question for this weekSomewhere in your business, a customer is already making a health choice in front of you. Do you know who they are, and what they are choosing?Chapters00:00 Cold open and welcome01:23 Walmart closed 51 clinics, and came back bigger02:54 Health comes in two speeds04:23 The medical corner: Kaufland × Sana (Germany)05:04 Assaí opens its own pharmacies (Brazil)06:19 The aisles: KIWI makes leaner meat cheaper (Norway)08:21 Colruyt's child-sized packs and Olive Better's wellness store09:31 Target: 70% of shoppers already buy wellness (US)11:22 Boundaries blur: Holland & Barrett's GLP-1 range (UK)12:17 Hy-Vee's dietitian programme (US)12:34 Sam's Club puts Weight Watchers in the membership13:50 Kroger × Instacart: prescriptions with the groceries14:42 Müller's Gesundheitswelt: two speeds in one shop (Switzerland)15:28 Health left the hospital and went shopping16:30 What this means for you: the Copernican Health Revolution in the aisle18:43 Retail owns the aisles, pharma owns the knowledge19:33 Unusual #1: Dreams × Mind & SAMH (UK)20:15 Unusual #2: Costco × SCAN health insurance (US)21:23 Unusual #3: Lawson's convenience store for an ageing estate (Japan)23:30 OutroSend us your ideas, suggestions or questions.Subscribe to Healthusiasm newsletter:https://www.healthusiasm.com-- -- --Book Christophe Jauquet for keynotes: www.christophejauquet.com