The Medicine Shoppe franchise: cost, fees & unit track record
Opening The Medicine Shoppe franchise takes $513,050 – $895,653 all-in, per its franchise disclosure filings (data as of 2026-05). The initial franchise fee is $103,425. Ongoing, franchisees pay a royalty of 3% on sales. Anything the filings do not state is marked "Not disclosed" below — never estimated.
The Medicine Shoppe franchise costs and fees
| Verification mark | Cost item | Low | High | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise feeOne-time, paid to the franchisor at signing | $103,425 | $103,425 | $103,425 | |
| Initial investment (all-in)FDD Item 7-derived range: build-out, equipment, opening costs | $513,050 | $895,653 | $513,050 to $895,653 | |
| Net worth requiredFranchisor's stated qualification minimum | Not disclosed1 | Not disclosed1 | ||
| Liquid cash requiredFranchisor's stated qualification minimum | Not disclosed1 | Not disclosed1 | ||
| Cash to open (all-in range) | $513,050 | $895,653 | $513,050 to $895,653 | |
- 1 "Not disclosed" means The Medicine Shoppe's filings do not state this figure. We publish the gap instead of estimating it.
| RoyaltyOngoing, % of sales | 3% |
|---|---|
| Ad fundOngoing, % of sales | Not disclosed |
| Initial termLength of the first franchise agreement | 5 years |
See the full The Medicine Shoppe cost breakdown — what's in that number and what isn't
How The Medicine Shoppe's cost compares
A dollar figure means more with a yardstick. Here is where The Medicine Shoppe's disclosed cost sits against the Retail category:
- Minimum startup cost of $513,050 — about 3.1× the Retail median of $165,000.
- Initial franchise fee of $103,425 — about 2.8× the Retail median of $36,750.
Category medians are computed from the Retail brands in our data that disclosed each figure — a benchmark for scale, not a quality judgment. See all Retail franchises
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How The Medicine Shoppe's units have held up
Openings and closures from FDD Item 20-style unit history, 2013–2021: began the window at 451 units; 134 units opened, 199 closed, ending at 319 units. (partial records: 2018 is not in the source data — totals span the reported years only.)
What about earnings?
We don't publish per-brand earnings figures — for The Medicine Shoppe or anyone else. The only primary source is Item 19 of the brand's own franchise disclosure document (FDD), and no law requires a franchisor to publish one, so the "average owner income" numbers circulating elsewhere are usually unsourced or survivorship-biased. Ask The Medicine Shoppe for its current FDD and read Item 19 yourself — and if there is no Item 19, that silence is information too.
What this data can't tell you
Everything on this page comes from disclosure filings — fees, ranges, and unit counts. Four questions that matter just as much are not in any filing we can source, so we say so instead of guessing:
- The hours and the labor
- No dataset field says whether The Medicine Shoppe is a manage-from-a-laptop business or a 60-hour week in disguise. Item 15 of the FDD states whether you're obligated to run the business personally, and Item 11 lists what the franchisor actually does for you — then ask current owners what their week looks like (validation calls), not the sales team.
- How hands-on the ownership really is
- "Semi-absentee" is a pitch, not a filing field. Treat any hands-off claim as unverified until it's consistent with Item 15 and with what multiple current franchisees tell you — what absentee ownership actually means.
- Your territory — whether it's protected, and whether it's open
- Two territory questions sit outside our data. Whether The Medicine Shoppe grants a protected or exclusive area is set in Item 12 of the FDD and varies brand to brand — some grant none, and the carve-outs (online sales, national accounts) matter as much as the map. And filing data can't say what's open in your market this month; only The Medicine Shoppe can confirm current availability. Ask both before you inquire, and get the answer in writing.
- What owners earn
- Covered honestly above: our dataset has no earnings fields, the only primary source is the brand's own Item 19, and here is how to read that evidence.
About The Medicine Shoppe franchise
The Medicine Shoppe is a retail franchisor with 319 units at the end of 2021 (FDD Item 20-style unit history). Between 2013 and 2021, it began the window at 451 units; its filings record 134 unit openings and 199 closures, ending at 319 units (partial records: 2018 is not in the source data — totals span the reported years only). Its parent company is Cardinal Health, Inc..
Disclosure filings report 21 franchise-related lawsuits. Review Item 3 of the FDD. (as of 2026-05)
From the franchisor's materials
The Franchise is for the operation of a retail pharmacy business under The Medicine Shoppe name and marks.
The Medicine Shoppe franchise: quick answers
- How much does The Medicine Shoppe franchise cost?
- $513,050 – $895,653 all-in to open, per The Medicine Shoppe's franchise disclosure filings (data as of 2026-05).
- How many The Medicine Shoppe units are there?
- 319 units at the end of 2021 (FDD Item 20-style unit history).
- How have The Medicine Shoppe's units held up?
- 78.7% of units at risk between 2019 and 2021 did not close, per our metric recomputed from FDD Item 20-style unit history (methodology published on our verification page).