New low-cost pharmacy coming to another SLO County city this summer
One of San Luis Obispo County’s local pharmacy providers is expanding into a new city with a growing need for its services.
Pill Save Pharmacy, which first opened its doors in Arroyo Grande on Branch Street in early 2022 followed by a Morro Bay location in 2024, will bring its services to Atascadero this summer
Founder and CEO Ihab Doss said in the four years his company has served San Luis Obispo County, he’s observed a shift in the pharmacy world of larger chains becoming more costly and less reliable, opening a window for local chains to fill the gap.
He said this became apparent after Rite Aid closed all of its locations, leaving Pill Save Pharmacy’s Morro Bay location as the closest option for most residents of Morro Bay, Los Osos, Cayucos and even Cambria.
“We try to cover when other companies withdraw from the market, so that there (are) no pharmacy deserts,” Doss said. “Lots of the pharmacies, they close or (go) bankrupt because of the low reimbursement from the insurances and (pharmacy benefit managers) that’s happening right now, so our model is based on a very small area, a very small overhead, and we try to push the savings to our patients.”
Atascadero in need of more pharmacy options
In a news release, Pill Save Pharmacy said it had identified 20 pharmacies — 15 chains and five independent pharmacies — in the Atascadero area, serving over 33,500 residents.
Of the 33,500 residents, over 8,700 are seniors age 60 or older who tend to need more prescriptions than an average client, according to the release.
Pill Save Pharmacy’s analysis of the current pharmacy network identified an opportunity to serve more than 8,000 additional prescriptions that are not being fulfilled by the existing pharmacy network, which administers between 165,000 and 177,000 prescriptions a month, according to the release.
Doss said his company’s analysis of the area was conducted by obtaining prescription numbers from major suppliers, then asking urgent care clinics, doctors and patients about what services are needed most.
The new branch at 9520 El Camino Real, Suite A, will offer the same services as Pill Save Pharmacy’s other locations and will provide free deliveries, Doss said.
By cutting out many of the non-pharmaceutical parts of a pharmacy and operating in a small, cost-effective space, Pill Save Pharmacy is able to keep over-the counter drug and prescription prices lower than many of its competitors, Doss said.
Like the other two branches, the Atascadero Pill Save Pharmacy will take all insurances, including less commonly accepted insurers such as Tricare and Kaiser Permanente, Doss said.
“We are a preferred pharmacy for most of the insurances — they recommend us over other people because of the low cost and low copay,” Doss said.
Pill Save Pharmacy’s low costs have made it a popular option for nursing homes across San Luis Obispo County, making a North County expansion an inevitability, Doss said.
“We try to offer our services for senior homes — we do free bottle packing and deliveries for senior homes,” Doss said. “We already have several senior homes in Atascadero and Paso that we are serving from Arroyo Grande, so opening in Atascadero would be much easier to serve them.”
Atascadero location to open this summer
Doss said with most of the legwork already done, Pill Save Pharmacy’s Atascadero location should be ready to open by June.
He said it may take an additional couple of months to ensure that all insurance types will be accepted at the new location, but he was excited to start taking on new clients in the area.
“We are trying to promote ourselves as the pharmacy of the Central Coast,” Doss said. “We’re only located on the Central Coast, and we are trying to serve the patients of the Central Coast. My mom lives here, and I would hate for her to stand for forever in line at CVS for stuff like this.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2026 at 10:30 AM.
