Colruyt Group opens first Yoboo Lifestyle Pharmacy

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Colruyt Group is taking a new step in its health strategy with the inauguration of the first Yoboo Lifestyle Pharmacy in Antwerp. In this prevention-focused pharmacy, customers are given easy access – through the pharmacist’s coaching approach, combined with an adapted and innovative product range – to take even greater control of their own health. The importance of a healthy lifestyle and the right guidance is becoming crucial to keeping our healthcare system, which is under increasing pressure, affordable. Yoboo, part of Colruyt Group, has been offering consumers practical tools since 2021 to help them take better-informed control of their own health: directly via the Yoboo app, through their employer (via corporate programmes) and now also through the pharmacy.

A future-proof pharmacy where prevention becomes tangible

The former Apotheek Noorderlaan has been completely redesigned as a Lifestyle Pharmacy. Alongside the trusted pharmaceutical services, the pharmacy team now structurally integrates lifestyle guidance into its work within the bright and welcoming spaces. The thoroughly adapted range includes a carefully curated selection of various products, including some food products and self-tests. Joris De Roover, CEO of Yoboo, explains: “Within the pharmacy, space has mainly been created for solutions and support that allow customers to work on three lifestyle themes¹: nutrition, exercise and rest. Lifestyle in the broadest sense is explicitly brought to the forefront here.”

The pharmacist’s coaching role takes centre stage

The role of a pharmacist is also given an additional interpretation in this Lifestyle Pharmacy. Joris De Roover: "Yoboo's ambition is to get people to work proactively on their own lifestyle. We think the pharmacy is an ideal lever for this: the pharmacist is the only health worker who can be reached all day without an appointment and who is used to listening to his patients and helping them to find solutions. By adding the nutrition/exercise/rest dimension through Yoboo, pharmacists can support and coach their patients even better and in a more personalised way.”

Yoboo has already been actively supporting pharmacists for some time with scientifically grounded training, practical methodologies and digital tools such as the Yoboo app and dashboard. Today, around 50 pharmacies are connected to the professional Yoboo ecosystem and more than 100 pharmacists have already been trained. De Roover adds: "“This has enabled us to build a valuable and unique network and strong support base, which we aim to expand further in order to achieve national coverage in the long term. In doing so, we are actively reaching out to independent pharmacies across Belgium.” Through the Yoboo app – which offers personalised actions, coaching and practical health tests – Colruyt Group’s health partner also provides direct support to consumers. In addition to pharmacies, Yoboo also actively supports companies in helping their employees work purposefully on well-being through accessible, evidence-based programmes that strengthen energy, resilience and sustainable behavioural change.

Lifestyle guidance as a lever for more affordable healthcare

The treatment of often preventable chronic conditions accounts for a large share of healthcare spending, while only a limited portion of that budget is devoted to prevention. According to experts, physical places where people can easily access advice and support can make a significant difference. Prof. Dr Dominique Vandijck * (as a professor of health economics affiliated with Ghent University and a visiting professor at various other universities and colleges) highlights the societal importance: “A pharmacy that, in addition to medication, also offers advice on lifestyle guidance responds to the need to strengthen prevention in a structural way. Concrete initiatives such as these – supported by organisations such as Colruyt Group – represent essential links in keeping our healthcare system affordable and future-proof.”

An important milestone within Colruyt Group’s health ambitions

Colruyt Group has held a stake in Yoboo since 2023. The opening of this first Lifestyle Pharmacy fits within the broader ambition to strengthen its position as a food and health retailer. Lisa Colruyt, responsible for Health at Colruyt Group, explains: “Our group has been working for many years on concrete solutions around nutrition, exercise and personal well-being, with the aim of lowering barriers for consumers. The lifestyle pharmacy is a logical extension of this. It makes health advice and coaching more accessible, simpler and more personal. Digital, personalised support – such as through the Yoboo app – will continue to grow within this approach.”

Colruyt Group currently operates five physical pharmacies and continues to invest in an integrated approach to accessible health solutions, in which brands such as Bio-Planet, Newpharma, Jims, Colruyt Group Academy, Bike Republic and Xtra each play an important role. Stefan Goethaert, CEO of Colruyt Group, concludes: “Our combination of digital and physical offerings is very powerful. It also remains a story of working together: if we collaborate intelligently across sectors, we can truly succeed in making a difference.”

* https://dominiquevandijck.be/hoe-redden-we-onze-begroting-zoek-een-alternatief-voor-pillen/