Blue Cross opens retail store near WestShore Plaza

Executives with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida don't expect anyone to confuse them with Starbucks or a Bath & Body Works shop.

But BCBS is getting into the retail game, this month opening up what's potentially a several-million-dollar walk-in retail location across from WestShore Plaza shopping mall, the insurance giant's fourth retail location in Florida.

Rival provider Humana is moving in the same direction, opening four retail locations in Florida in the last two years.

Health insurance may not seem a natural fit for retail, with the industry's long-time focus on call centers and Web sites to handle customers.

But one big reason has insurance executives thinking retail: growing ranks of people desperate for health insurance. The laid-off construction worker. The suddenly solo practitioner accountant, mortgage broker or car dealer whose COBRA insurance coverage is expiring.

"With layoffs and downsizing, there are just fewer people in the group-coverage market," said David Pizzo, market president for BCBS in Tampa. "A lot of people who just lost coverage just have no idea where to go. This would be that place."

Presently, 85 percent of BCBS members in Florida receive coverage through their employers, meaning there's room to grow in the self-paid market. So the company opened Florida Blue retail spots in Tampa, Jacksonville and Pembroke Pines, with other locations this year planned for Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and a second in Jacksonville.

The BCBS location, at 201 N. West Shore Blvd., is set up as a customer-service center, with consultants to answer member questions. But there are also nurses to greet potential members, give basic physical exams and flu shots and perform basic cholesterol tests. Over time, the location could evolve into a mini clinic, officials said.

A high-profile building on a busy roadway makes those services very visible to current and potential customers, executives say.

Insurance companies have occasionally tried retail, but it's still somewhat rare, said David Conn, a commercial real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis in Tampa.

"I was a bit surprised at first to see Blue Cross open there [on West Shore]," Conn said. "It's a rather expensive location and expensive building, too."

BCBS executives declined to say how much they spent on the 5,000-square-foot shop. Using current market prices, Conn estimates between $2.5 million and $3 million to purchase the land and build the facility, with its vaulted glass walls and gently curving roofline.

But high-visibility retail spots are appealing to a small but growing number of pure service companies, Conn said. For instance, Conn helped place the electronic brokerage firm E-Trade into a new retail outlet across from International Plaza.

"Anybody who is serving the public now with some sophistication is trying to keep in touch with their client 24 hours a day, however they can," Conn said. Hence the insurance industry's newfound love of in-person retail, especially for drawing in individual policy buyers.

The fastest growing segment of Humana's business in Florida involves members buying coverage for themselves, spokesman Mitch Lubitz said.

"The difference with our retail locations is that they're becoming community gathering places," Lubitz said. "We have fitness classes, cooking classes, seminars, programs, games - even Wii bowling night at our Orlando location."

As for BCBS, the Tampa location could serve as a template. BCBS divisions across the country have come to see the prototype and are looking to open their own retail locations.