Walgreens announced on Wednesday that it will be buying Rite-Aid for $17.2 billion in cash. It will assume the company’s debt, also. The final acquisition deal would create a retail pharmacy giant as the largest and the third largest drug store chains in America will be combined.

With this acquisition, one thing that Walgreen’s expects to happen is to be able to wield enormous power and leverage at the drug companies with regard to discounts on pharmaceuticals. Of course, this hardly means that the new retail drug giant will pass those enormous savings on to their customers, according to Forbes. Walgreens looks to continue the trend of a local pharmacy being more than just a place to fill prescriptions. It is expected that more Rite-Aid outlets will now have in store clinics. I may, also, mean that the stores will be carrying a wider line and be giving more shelf space to health maintenance products like vitamins and other natural supplements.

The pharmacy industry, including CVS, has been moving toward providing health care and health care products in recent years. They want to be a one shop stop for those who are pressed for time as well as resources and they want to take advantage of the huge Baby Boomer population as it heads into retirement.

This is a second successful stage in an acquisition phase for Walgreens. Last year, the company bought out the United Kingdom’s largest drug store chain, Alliance Boots. The Alliance Boots acquisition gave Walgreens their 13,100 stores in eleven European countries.

The major pharmacy chains know they have to be alert to compete as such non-drug store entities like WalMart and supermarket chains Kroeger and Publix are expanding their pharmacy presence. CVS recently bought Target’s 1,700 pharmacies a few months back.

The acquisition will provide Walgreens with all of Rite-Aids 4,570 store across 31 states. Walgreens, the nation’s largest chain has 8,200 stores across the country. Rival CVS current has 7,800 stores nationwide. With their new stores numbering over 13,000, Walgreens projects future earnings in the $100 billion range.