Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to close 1,200 stores during the next three years, with 500 closures set for next year, in the face of low drug reimbursement rates and slower consumer spending.
The Deerfield, Illinois-based company on Tuesday said it would shutter roughly 14% of its U.S. locations and redeploy the majority of the workers impacted. “We are in a turnaround,” Tim Wentworth, the drugstore chain’s CEO, told an earnings call.
“The closure of so many stores is emblematic of a company that is in trouble and is trying to course correct,” commented Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData. “Walgreens spent years building its business through acquisitions and completely neglected the fundamentals of its stores and its retail operations,” the analyst added.
I know in some cities Walgreens and CVS are maybe not terrible stores because they are close and you can walk there and pick up maybe a few groceries on the way back from work.
But in a more sprawling city where you have to drive everywhere, I’ve never once opted to buy anything from Walgreens over another store simply because the prices there are outrageous. I only go to my closest Walgreens for vaccinations.
Plus the stores (both Walgreens and CVS) often are kinda messy as hell. And I don’t even blame the workers that much. It seems like at any given time there’s MAYBE one to two people working there outside of the pharmacy.
It’s basically a high priced Dollar Store.
Unfortunately, in food deserts, it can be one of the few options.
We need to stop relying on private corporations to feed our citizens.