Milwaukee-based pharmacy chain Hayat Pharmacy plans to open a location on South Cesar Chavez Drive in the city’s Walker’s Point neighborhood.
The pharmacy will be located at 1238 S. Cesar Chavez Drive, a 5,000-square-foot building previously occupied by Clinica Latina SC under provider and owner Dr. Leonardo J. Aponte.
It will be the 20th location for Hayat Pharmacy.
“We’re working on the final remodeling pieces for that building plus some paperwork with third parties like Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance,” said Hashim Zaibak, Hayat Pharmacy founder and CEO. “So maybe (we’ll open) in the next couple of months.”
Hashim Zaibak, Founder and CEO of Hayat Pharmacy. Credit: Hayat Pharmacy website
Hayat Pharmacy was founded in 2011 and opened its first pharmacy at 603 N. 36th St. in Milwaukee
“If you were to have asked me in 2011, I would’ve told you no, we’re just going to stick to this single location,” said Zaibak. “We had absolutely no plans to grow.”
Since then, Hayat has opened 18 other locations with three more on the horizon.
A game changer for Zaibak and the growth of Hayat Pharmacy was the ForwardHealth decision made in July of 2024 to allow pharmacists to be compensated as Wisconsin Medicaid providers to submit claims for covered medical services to ForwardHealth patients.
“Now we’re able to offer services that we were not able to offer before and be compensated for them,” said Zaibak.
Hayat has also signed a lease for a location at North 56th Street and Fond Du Lac Avenue in Milwaukee to open with Stott’s Medical and Mental Health Services. Hayat Pharmacy and Stott’s will do business out of that location together.
Another building at North Farwell Avenue and East Brady Street on Milwaukee’s East Side was acquired in 2019 by Hayat but is still under construction after progress was halted during the pandemic. The project is expected to resume and be finished in 2025, said Zaibak.
