Highmark Inc. is hoping that Pittsburghers are ready to shop for health insurance the same way they shop for shoes or cell phones: by popping into a store, talking with sales clerks and browsing the "merchandise."

The insurer plans to open its first retail outlet, to be called Highmark Direct, in a North Hills shopping plaza early next year. There, customers will be able to talk with sales associates about individual or small business insurance plans, and also be able to apply for coverage.

A second retail store is being planned for Mechanicsburg, near Harrisburg. Both outlets should be open by March. Highmark says the "health insurance stores" are the first of their kind in Pennsylvania, part of the insurer's effort to capture the growing segment of consumers who purchase their health care individually.

"We need to build other paths to consumer engagement," said Steven Nelson, Highmark's vice president of consumerism and retail marketing. "This is one of many things you're going to hear about over the next year."

Retail is the Next Big Thing in health care, in both a figurative sense -- in that consumers are taking greater control of their health coverage as employer-paid health care dwindles -- and a literal one, in that health care is moving out of hospitals and doctors' offices.

Retail health clinics, either free-standing or fitted into the corner of pharmacies or big box retailers, are growing more popular each year, with names like Take Care and MinuteClinic becoming better known. Four new Take Care clinics, built into and a subsidiary of Walgreens pharmacies, just opened in the Pittsburgh area, and another is due to open at the end of December.

It's starting with health insurance, too. The trend toward retail visibility is an especially nice fit for Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers, which by dint of their regional or statewide sales restrictions have more of a community face than their national competitors.

Florida's Blue Cross Blue Shield opened the first of its "Florida Blue" retail outlets last year. Foot traffic was better than expected, according to company officials. Florida's Blue Cross has put a premium on making the experience "retail-like," meaning the transactions are fast and easy to understand.

Is America -- at least those Americans who don't receive their insurance through an employer -- OK with buying health insurance from a store? Or will it take some getting used to?

"If history is any guide, we almost always overstate the pace of change in health care," said David Knott, managing partner with Booz & Co.'s global health care arm, It will take "years and years for a full migration to occur. But I think it's pretty clear that it's headed in that direction."

Experts seem to know the general direction of health care -- more consumer-driven, more a la carte, more people being forced to craft their own high-deductible, low-premium plans as employers try to shed health care liabilities for employees and retirees.

But they are less certain of the details of retail insurance. Perhaps scattered retail outlets will become the norm, a la the Apple Store. Or maybe health insurers will someday put individual, proprietary brokers on every corner, a la the State Farm model.

Or would it make more sense for health insurers to concentrate on a less labor-intensive route, instead of pushing individual plans through third-party agents, who also sell plans for, say, Aetna and United Healthcare?

"That's exactly the right question to ask," Mr. Knott said. Pilot stores like the ones in the Pittsburgh and Harrisburg areas will attempt to find the answers.

Stewart Anmuth, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Health Underwriters, welcomed Highmark's foray into retail health insurance, saying any move that results in more people with coverage is a good thing.

Pittsburgh's new store will resemble the Florida Blue concept, featuring kiosks where customers can do their own research, meeting rooms where staff can hold informational seminars, and private rooms where existing customers can have a live video conference with Highmark specialists to answer questions and resolve complaints.

Unlike the Florida stores, only mainline health insurance will be available for purchase, not add-ons like dental and vision coverage.

The point of the store is about promoting "sales, first and foremost -- simplifying and de-mystifying the sales experience," Mr. Nelson said. But the two to four employees who will staff the stores must also be prepared to deal with angry and emotional customers who don't understand their plans or who have been denied coverage.

Feedback from Florida suggests 95 percent of the foot traffic is sales related, Mr. Nelson said, and only 5 percent comes from customers with problems. Still, "people are going to bring in their issues. We need to be able to address those," he said.

The Pittsburgh-area Highmark Direct store will be in the McKnight-Seibert shopping plaza along McKnight Road in Ross. The retail spot will occupy two storefronts, taking the place of a Betsy Ann Chocolates store and a medical supplier.