The Medicine Shoppe
Bottom line
- Total investment $513K – $895K including a $0 franchise fee, 3.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 63/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 113 loans (below the industry average).
- 18 litigation matters disclosed in Item 3 — higher than typical. Review the summary for patterns (franchisor-initiated vs. franchisee-initiated).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one The Medicine Shoppe unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
22%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Medicine Shoppe franchisees operate independent community pharmacies, dispensing prescription medications, managing inventory, providing customer pharmaceutical consultation, and handling insurance billing. Day-to-day operations involve managing pharmacy technicians, ensuring regulatory compliance (DEA, state pharmacy boards), maintaining patient records, and competing directly with chain pharmacies and mail-order services.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 11 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Medicine Shoppe presents HIGH RISK due to declining unit economics, missing financial disclosures, extensive litigation involving parent company and franchisees, and absence of territory protection in a highly competitive pharmacy market.
Score breakdown · what drove the 63 / 100 rating
- 01MINORDeclining unit count (-1.7% YoY) indicates contracting franchise system with potential recruitment/retention problems
- 02MEDNo disclosed average revenue or net income (missing Item 19) prevents validation of franchise profitability claims
- 03HIGHExtensive litigation history including contractual disputes with franchisees, SEC/FTC investigations of parent Cardinal Health, and opioid litigation creates reputational and operational risk
- 04MINORNo protected territory combined with 5-year term creates competitive vulnerability within same market
- 05HIGHParent company Cardinal Health faces multi-district litigation and regulatory investigations that could impact franchise support and brand reputation
- 06MINORDual royalty structure ($599/month minimum or 3% of gross) may create cash flow pressure for lower-volume pharmacies
- 07MINORZero franchise fee is unusual and may indicate difficulty attracting franchisees to a declining system
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
100 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
The Medicine Shoppe · FDD (2024) PDF