Walgreens is closing 1,200 stores by 2027. Which Wisconsin stores could be affected?

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly characterized the portion of last quarter's loss that was due to goodwill impairment charges.

The drugstore chain Walgreens plans to close about 1,200 stores in the next three years, the company announced on Tuesday in its fiscal year 2024 earnings report.

Walgreens also said it plans to close about 500 stores within the next year. It operates about 8,700 retail pharmacy locations in the U.S.

While Walgreens exceeded its target of slashing $1 billion in costs in the last fiscal year, the chain reported a $3 billion loss last quarter. Still the chain's revenue in the last fiscal year rose more than 6% from the a year ago, according to the company's earnings report.

Fourth-quarter sales in the retail pharmacy sector reached $29.5 billion, an increase of 6.5% from the same quarter a year ago.

In a statement, Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Tim Wentworth said the financial results in the fourth quarter and full year reflected "disciplined execution on cost management, working capital initiatives and capex reduction." In fiscal 2025, he said the company is focused on "stabilizing the retail pharmacy" operations.

"Fiscal 2025 will be an important rebasing year as we advance our strategy to drive value creation," he said. "This turnaround will take time, but we are confident it will yield significant financial and consumer benefits over the long term."

While it's not immediately clear which 1,200 stores Walgreens is planning on closing, the move would affect about 13% of the chain's U.S. stores.

This comes after Walgreens announced in June that it was closing a "significant portion" of underperforming stores over the next three years. At the time, the company hadn't settled on a final number of locations to close.

Drug store chains struggle with declining sales

News of the impending closures come as Walgreens and other drugstore chains struggle to keep up with competition from Amazon, as well as declining drug reimbursement rates from middlemen for filling prescriptions.

CVS has laid off thousands of corporate and other employees since 2023 while dealing with "continued disruption, regulatory pressures, and evolving customer needs," a spokesman previously told USA TODAY. Since declaring bankruptcy about a year ago , Rite Aid has closed hundreds of stores across the U.S. after struggling for years to keep up with its larger competitors.

Three Walgreens locations closed in Milwaukee in less than a year

In 2023, Walgreens closed two Milwaukee locations at West Hampton and North Fond du Lac avenues and at North Forest Home and West Lincoln avenues.

Then, in December, it was announced that the Walgreens location on West Capitol Drive and North Teutonia Avenue was closing. The location closed 10 days earlier than expected , on Jan. 5, to the dismay of residents in the north side Garden Homes neighborhood, where the majority of residents are Black and low-income .

Neighborhood residents said they were upset because of a lack of nearby options — the next-closest Walgreens is about two miles east at 320 E. Capitol Dr.

Walgreens operates more than 50 stores in Milwaukee and the nearby suburbs, according to the company's online store locator .

(This story was updated to add a video.)

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Walgreens is closing 1,200 stores by 2027. Which Wisconsin stores could be affected?