Walgreens warned in June that it planned to shut down a significant number of its stores, but now it’s giving some more precise numbers: 1,200 of the chain’s roughly 8,600 locations will close their doors over the next three years.
The 14% store reduction comes as Walgreens Boots Alliance is in the midst of a turnaround as consumer spending slows and drug reimbursement rates from insurers drop. The company has announced plans to cut costs by $1 billion.
The news came as part of the company’s fourth quarter and fiscal 2024 earnings, where Walgreens reported an annual loss of more than $10 per share, an increase of 180% compared to a year ago. (Those results included a charge for opioid-related claims and litigation.)
“Fiscal 2025 will be an important rebasing year as we advance our strategy to drive value creation,” said CEO Tim Wentworth in a statement. “This turnaround will take time, but we are confident it will yield significant financial and consumer benefits over the long term.”
500 store closings will take place within the next 12 months. Walgreens did not detail which locations would be shut down, but noted that it estimated one-quarter of its stores are currently unprofitable.
Walgreens is hardly alone. Rite Aid has announced plans to close 154 stores in the U.S. as part of its bankruptcy filing. And CVS announced in 2021 that it planned to close roughly 900 stores, some 10% of its total locations.
The wave of pharmacy closing has raised some concerns as neighborhood drugstores are much more than a place to get meds—and the likely target of many of the closures will be in largely Black and Latino neighborhoods.
“You’re the smoking cessation counselor, you’re the suicide prevention counselor,” said Megan Undeberg, a community pharmacy expert at Washington State University in June. ”You know just about everything about everyone, but it’s confidential.”