Walgreens to close 1,200 stores over the next three years

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: CNBC

Walgreens to close 1,200 stores over the next three years
The pharmacy giant estimates that a quarter of its 8,700 locations are unprofitable as consumers shift their spending habits.

Oct. 15, 2024, 9:29 AM EDT
By Rob Wile and Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC

Walgreens said Tuesday it plans to close 1,200 stores over the next three years as it seeks to further downsize its footprint amid flagging sales and changing consumer behavior. ... The pharmacy chain said 500 of the closings would occur over the next 12 months. It estimates a quarter of its 8,700 stores in the U.S. are unprofitable.

Walgreens announced the closures as part of its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year earnings, which beat Wall Street's expectations. In a statement, CEO Tim Wentworth acknowledged the company was in the midst of a "turnaround" that would "take time." ... "We are confident it will yield significant financial and consumer benefits over the long term," Wentworth said.

In June, Walgreens said it planned to close a "significant" number of its underperforming stores by 2027. Tuesday's announcement appears to be the company's first exact estimate of how many locations it will shutter. ... Both Walgreens and rival CVS are facing a difficult operating environment, fighting to be profitable as consumers shift their habits. ... In 2021, CVS said it would close about 900 stores, or about 10% of its U.S. locations, from 2022 to 2024. Rite Aid recently emerged from bankruptcy and will operate as a privately owned company.

Pharmacy chains have been squeezed in part by changes to the prescription drug market, including lower reimbursements from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the third-party companies that manage prescription drug benefits for health insurance companies. ... PBMs have been recently accused of inflating drug costs and are the target of multiple legislative and regulatory reforms and actions.

{snip}

Rob Wile
Rob Wile is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist covering breaking business stories for NBCNews.com.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/walgreens-close-1200-stores-three-years-rcna175451

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Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

https://www.joemygod.com/2024/10/walgreens-to-shutter-1200-stores-over-three-years/

Walgreens To Shutter 1200 Stores Over Three Years
October 15, 2024

[Moostache]

1. They are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay overextended in many places...

I have no fewer than 8 locations within 10 miles of my house now. There were 3 locations a decade ago and only 2 when I moved to the area 30 years ago.

[democratsruletheday]

12. It the same way here in West MI

there's a drug store on every corner but not for long. Rite aid going out and CVS is in trouble and now Walgreens. Brutal

[IbogaProject]

13. They have reduced the independent pharmacies so now they can start cutting back

The community damage has been done.

[slightlv]

17. In not so many words, this is just what I said to hubby.

Every single independent, Mom-n-Pop Pharmacy in this little city was bought up by either Walgreens or CVS. Some of the pharmacists actually had to start working for the big chains. I HATE that. And yes, the community IS destroyed by this, just like Walmart running out the stationery store, Home Depot running out the small westlakes, and other hardware stores. Places where you get to know the people running the store, trust them at their word, and build community. Gone! Our smaller cities are being dismantled and destroyed, our hospitals run out of business, and gentrification taking over on nearly every over 20+ year old house for sale. Pay 20K, sell it for $300,000... and boost the tax rate up so high you run everyone else in the neighborhood out because they can't afford the taxes thanks to you. So, you make them an offer of 10-20k, and off you go with more gentrification. Meanwhile, all physical needs are met not by the people in your community, per se, but by the big corporations who couldn't give a damn if you don't know the difference between a trowel and a spade.

I think WE need to get really Tribal, ourselves, and start fighting to take back what we had in the community, and on the commons. They want to rip it apart, drive it into the ground, make sure no one stands up for anyone else and lives hand to mouth, dog eat dog. That ain't a world I'm gonna live in!

[riversedge]

2. Well, I may have to find another Pharmacy. Walgreen products are expensive so I only

get the drugs--which are only a few.
Gen dollar suits my needs for household products--soap, detergent, cat supplies etc.

[JT45242]

3. So PBM middle men are bad for patients, the economy, and the pharmacy stores...if only we had single payer

These blood sucking leeches in the middle would be eliminated and drug costs and health care costs would go down.

[Freethinker65]

4. When I stopped paying for newspaper delivery, I also stopped receiving the sale inserts that came with it.

That really changed my spending habits. No more clipping coupons or making lists for great deals at Walgreens/CVS (99 cent sharpies, BOGO toothpaste, 2/$100 canned goods, bounce backs for batteries, etc.). I haven't made a non-pharmacy purchase in a stand alone "pharmacy" store in years.

[Easterncedar]

5. I miss my Rite-Aide pharmacists

They were so good and professional and kind. Now I go to my supermarket pharmacy, which is frequently overwhelmed, sometimes disorganized and can’t provide any personal attention.

[LunaSea]

6. "consumers shift their habits"

Yeah, blame consumers for your shitty management.

[Jk23]

8. Maybe I don't want to shop at a store with zero employees

Seriously half the time I went into a Walgreens you would think that the employees were tied up in the back or a zombie movie had broken out.

[slightlv]

18. Whether they have employees or not,

they still expect you to check out your own crap. No freaking way, I say. They aren't paying ME a salary to do their work, nor are there prices showing any compensation for the work I do for them. I will NEVER take a job away from a worker by using the damned self-pay checkouts. And I damned sure ain't giving my money to the corporation just so they can save a few bucks by hiring fewer workers. That way leads to community deserts.

[Macrophylla]

7. So...

Having a store every couple of miles away from each other isn't a good business decision afterall?

[Demovictory9]

9. I shopped at one last night..hope it stays open

[Vinca]

10. As much as I hate the place, I hope it stays open since they've bought out all the little pharmacies in the area.

There's nowhere else to get prescriptions filled without a 20-mile drive.

[Jirel]

11. Good.

It’s time for them to die and make room for something better.

They are data harvesters who make a lot of their money selling your data, and constantly spamming customers to buy more stuff. When I still used them, I denied them my phone number or email, and I only got paper RXes from my docs, so the staff could not give my contact info to them online. Removing said info was a pain in the ass.

They are corporate scum who lie to the public and shareholders that they are losing money because of “gangs of thieves.” This is just another version of the GOP tarring people of color as criminals.

They misuse and keep data they aren’t supposed to, like the time they saved all their pharmacy customers’ credit card info to populate a new rapid pickup system. I found that one out by picking up an RX and being told that I had already paid, thanks and bye. Nope, not happening! Getting that removed was fun, too.

They are happy to fellate insurance companies to the detriment of a patient. I have had crazy things happen like coming to pick up an RX I’ve been on for years, then being told that they hadn’t filled it because “they weren’t sure” I’d really want it because the copay was $35. Another time, I had a copay of about $25 on another multi-year RX, and some bastard there secretly called my doctor’s office and actually got them to CHANGE MY RX to a different, inappropriate drug to “save” me $10. I picked up the RX as usual, discovered the switch, and then was told I couldn’t “return” the wrong RX, so I would up paying for the correct one as well. So much for “saving.”

They now don’t fill certain drugs that people need urgently at the pharmacy. They fill them regionally, then send them to the stores. This means your urgent RX may take 7-10 days to arrive. When they started pulling this nonsense with one of my meds, I talked to the current kind pharmacist (there are reasons they blow through pharmacists like toilet paper), and asked if this is a permanent change. He was angry and scathing about their policies, told me how badly it was hurting some people, and suggested I no longer use Walgreens. That’s as damning as it gets.

[verargert]

14. happens every time MBAs get involved in any consumer based company

[Fla Dem]

15. Often wonder how the one in my area stays in business. Although we are right down the street from

the beach so they probably do get a lot of vacationer traffic.

[bedazzled]

16. Half the new dr offices in palm beach are former walgreens

Maybe if they didn't build their new stores two blocks over in a slightly different format every few years they wouldn't have to overcharge.

Walgreens sucks