Walgreens announces closure of whopping 1,200 stores nationwide

Walgreens, the second largest pharmacy store in the US, announced that they are planning to close 1,200 stores nationwide.

The Walgreens Boots Alliance announced today that it would shutter roughly 14% of its locations across the country, and plan to redeploy the majority of their impacted staff. While their plan stretches over the next three years, 500 stores are expected to be closed in 2025 alone.

The Chicago-based pharmacy chain has around 8,700 locations nationwide. They told analysts that one in four of their locations are unprofitable. Tim Wentworth, the drugstore chain's CEO, told an earnings call, "We are in a turnaround."

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“This turnaround will take time, but we are confident it will yield significant financial and consumer benefits over the long term,” he added.

Since taking the CEO position last year, Wentworth has introduced a $1 billion cost-cutting program , to combat some of the issues Walgreens is facing. In recent years, these include slow customer spending, high inflation and low drug reimbursement rates - the amount of money that healthcare providers or pharmacies are paid for dispensing prescription medications to patients.

These factors contributed to the company’s $3 billion quarterly loss. Which stores will face closures have not yet been disclosed but are expected to be revealed soon.

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