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.
There are 5 walgreens in a 1.5 mi radius near me. That doesn’t seem smart.
The thing is that CVS was expanding their area of operation in the early. 2000s and Walgreens had enough of a war chest to just build stores like crazy to try and take the spots CVS would want to use or choke CVS out.
So we ended up with Walgreens everywhere and sometimes a Walgreens across the street from a CVS.
CVS isn’t doing so hot in their retail spaces and closing stores, so Walgreens can relax and close down stores.
Are they franchised?
No, all locations are corporate owned for both corporations.
I know not everyone has this option, but we recently switched to a local pharmacy. It’s awesome. Scripts are always ready. Never a line. The pharmacist actually comes over and talks about side effects.
I picked up multiple prescriptions for my wife over a period of a week for some shit she was going through and they actually went as far as asking if she’s going ok.
Flu and COVID vaccines are walk-in, no appointment, and you can choose between Moderna and Pfizer.
Compared to the chains around me it’s amazingly better. Worth the extra few minutes in the car.
I have been thinking of doing that but I’m worried a more local mom n pop store is going to be conservative and give me shit about my hrt.
Call and ask
I did so for my Adderall during the shortage and quickly learned that every local pharmacy within 50 miles are run by terrible people :)
Only one way to find out.
I’m in a rural area, and the only pharmacy is locally owned and I love it. Usually in and out, and like you I can get covid and flu shots there. Sure, they don’t sell orange juice and lawn chairs there, but there’s a Family Dollar next door.
Family Dollar and pretty much all dollar stores are rife with OSHA and health code violations. You might want to avoid getting orange juice there unless you are cool with it being covered in rat shit.
I live near a medical clinic and get my scripts there for the same reason.
Walgreens overcharges like hell for their meds. My meds would be around $400/mo through them. At a mail order pharmacy it’s $10. Same insurance.
The walgreens by my house is a fucking nightmare. 2 lane drive through pharmacy, .75 to 1.5 hour wait time. All the otc meds are WAY overpriced along with everything else in the that hell hole. Honestly fuck em and I’m glad they are losing business
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.
fuck walgreens. mine used to be a different pharmacy before walgreens bought it and completely ruined it.
That happened in our town too. Local pharmacy that was part of the community for 90 years. Walgreens bought it and it was shut down by the end of the week.
I mean, several of the Walgreens (Duane Reades) in midtown Manhattan where I live have put locks on freezer cases, men’s grooming products, and more. Why would I go to those locations to buy things? And if I’m not going to buy stuff there, I’m not going to have my prescriptions sent there, either.
Be hostile to your customers (who want to give you money, because yes 2am Ben & Jerry’s happens and I’ll pay a lot for it), and we’ll go elsewhere.
Almost all my physical pharmacies are closing near me. This is not cool for any meds you might need to start right away and can’t wait for online to fill them. Pharmacies should get a bail out! Getting life saving meds should be a right.
Well the good news is that the Biden admin is currently trying to do something about the situation. The root cause is PBMs basically using their market power to squeeze everyone and redirect all the profit to themselves leaving nothing for the actual pharmacies. The FTC under Lina Khan has been investigating the issue for a while now and is currently starting litigation against the PBMs. It would be nice if we could get a functional congress that would pass good legislation to solve the issue instead of leaning on the limited power of regulators and unreliable and sometimes corrupt courts though.
You might not be surprised to find that CVS runs their own PBM and Walgreens did as well until selling it off a little over a decade ago.
To me Walgreens and CVS are very similar. Prices in both stores are Nuts!! 50 tablets of pepcid complete was $30 at CVS. Found em online for $15.
Slower spending meant that their prices suck. I mean, I’ve gone into a few Walgreen stores and their prices are just horrendous across the board. It sucks they chose greed than sticking around for people who need medication.
Yeah I’m not going to pay $27 for one bottle of pataday allergy eye drops when you can get a two pack off Amazon for slightly less. I gladly suffered for a day.
In my area, Walgreens always seems empty, their prices are super high, and their pharmacists seem ready to quit.
I’m sure their mismanagement of the medical practices they’re snapping up isn’t helping them much either. I’m pissed at them for buying up one of the largest local medical providers and completely fucking them up. We used to be able to get in to see a doctor in a reasonable amount of time for long-term issues and could generally get an appointment day-of or the day after for acute issues. Now, when you call to get an acute appointment they say that nothing is available for MONTHS. I called to be seen for a sinus infection in February and was told nothing was available until July.
We switched providers and are much happier with the service, but we miss our old doctors…
In my area, they can’t even keep pharmacists from walking out, apparently, as they’ll just randomly have the pharmacy closed for the day when you walk in on a Monday at 2pm for example (at multiple locations). This was really fun when it started happening regularly since my parents are both full of health problems and have their prescriptions sent there (for medication needed ASAP) only to find out the pharmacy is closed and there’s no way for me to pick up the order without calling the doctor back and trying to get it sent somewhere else and filled and hoping this can all be accomplished before 5pm.
Apart from the pharmacy, it seems like they only ever have 1-2 employees working, shelves are empty, the store is trashed, and prices are high. Rite-Aid already shut down a bunch of locations so I’m surprised these other big chains have managed this long after years of corporate cost cutting and forcing their remaining employees to do the job of 6 people for minimum wage while the executives rake in millions.
In my area, Walgreens always seems empty, their prices are super high, and their pharmacists seem ready to quit.
If your area is literally anywhere within the continental US then that checks out.
And rite aid is already in bankruptcy
Walgreens bought out my neighborhood pharmacy 4 years ago, bringing on the former staff. They renovated a Rite Aid and moved right in. Then, 2 years ago, they closed the store they’d just built. Now it’s a shitty Dollar Tree.
Wtf is going on.
Redeploy? I’m not moving house to work at fucking Walgreens
