Despite Farmacias El Amal digesting the Moscoso drug store business it acquired, stiff competition abounded on the small island.

The increase in sales to $180 million was far more difficult in 1999 than in previous years because of competitors such as Kmart, which aggressively added drug store style departments in 16 existing units.

"We have contracts signed for 13 new drugstore locations, but opening dates sometimes depend on the completion of shopping centers," Saleh Yassin president and CEO of El Amal announced.

El Amal locations to open before year's end included Rio Grande, Las Piedras, Fajardo, and Carolina.

"There are many factors affecting sales including high electricity and gasoline prices and the lack of Hurricane Georges' money injection," he said.

JCPenney announced plans to close some 45 department stores and 300 Eckerd drugstores nationwide as part of the company's restructuring initiatives.

[7] On April 23, 2001, it was reported that in the words of Farmacias El Amal president and chief executive Saleh Yassin, Puerto Rico had become a "battleground" as competitors such as Walgreens, Kmart and Wal-Mart continuing to open pharmacies there.

Despite Puerto Rico's highly competitive marketplace, Farmacias El Amal ended 2000 with an 8 percent sales increase and one store addition.

In addition, the chain would install automatic teller machines, which would allow consumers to pay utility bills electronically or access the internet.

[8] On March 6, 2003, Farmacias El Amal President & CEO Saleh Yassin announced that the company would invest more than $8 million to open six new stores before Mother's Day.

The new stores would be in Bayamón, Caguas, Encantada (Trujillo Alto), Guayama, Plaza Las Américas, and Prime Retail in Barceloneta.

[9] On June 5, 2003, it was reported that El Amal had proven a fierce competitor to Walgreens, the pharmacy chain with the highest sales in the nation, according to Hoover's Online.

Farmacias El Amal at the time was Puerto Rico's largest locally owned pharmacy chain, according to the 2003 Caribbean Business "Book of Lists.

Yassin expected El Amal pharmacies to open in Manatí, Morovis and Adjuntas, all averaging 13,000 square feet in size.

"This, as everyone who knows Puerto Rico's slow and rather cumbersome permit process, could take some time delaying the arrival and eventual conversion of El Amal stores to CVS to after February 2008," noted the source.

It was unclear, however, whether El Amal, which for more than 30 years had served local communities around the island, would sell the entire chain to CVS or simply spin off some of its non performing locations.

El Amal was one of Puerto Rico's leading family-owned companies with more than 60 stores, estimated annual sales of $220 million and 1,150 employees.

"It's completely false," were the remarks of an annoyed Saleh Yassin, president of El Amal pharmacies, regarding company sale rumors to the drugstore chain.

Caribbean Business had interviewed unnamed sources close to CVS' real estate and engineering staff who indicated negotiations to acquire El Amal were moving forward, and printed them believing it was so.

As reported earlier, El Amal, Puerto Rico's second largest drugstore chain, announced the sale of 20 of its 60 locations and the decision to transform its remaining 40 stores into new clinical centers.

While terms of the sale transaction to Walgreens were undisclosed, it would help fund the $25 million transformation of El Amal stores, as the chain moved to become a network of clinical centers.

[15] On March 20, 2009, Farmacias El Amal the largest local pharmacy chain on the Island at the time filed for protection under the federal Bankruptcy Law after incurring debts amounting to approximately $75 million.

[17] On May 4, 2011, it was reported that nearly three months after abruptly closing down local drugstore chain and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, El Amal was liquidating the inventory it had left, the company in charge of the transaction announced in an ad published Tuesday.

Company President Mohammad Yassin told lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday that unfair competition on the island was to blame for El Amal's disappearance.

The executive said El Amal was unable to compete fairly with powerful rival Walgreens, which Yassin said was given “special benefits.” “I believe there should have been more regulations to ease competition and make sure that every competitor had the chance to compete head-on, without an advantage or disadvantage,” said Yassin during testimony offered in a public hearing of the House Consumer Affairs Committee chaired by Rep. Jorge Navarro.

“For many years we battled against a company like Walgreens and suggested a law as simple as legally requiring a drug maker that grants benefits to Walgreens, to grant them to community pharmacies as well.” The hearing was held to analyze the process the company followed when it shut down without warning on February 18, disregarding regulations requiring drugstores to give prior notice to its patients about its plans to close.

El Amal came under fire by local health officials who were flooded with complaints from patients whose access to prescription medications were cut off when stores closed.

“If you ask me what the most appropriate legislative tool would be, I would say that lawmakers should demand that there are equal opportunities.” Although he did not mention it, it was widely known that large retail chains use their leverage to buy in bulk at lower prices, which they would often pass down to consumers as discounts at the register.