Walgreens to close 1,200 stores over next 3 years: locations and dates

Walgreens, like other pharmacy chains across the United States, has been struggling with slower consumer spending and low drug reimbursement rates. Its new CEO Tim Wentworth has been implementing a series of changes since taking the helm last year which are bearing fruit but further measures are still needed to right the ship.

In June, the Deerfield, Illinois-based company announced that it would shutter a significant number of underperforming stores throughout the country. During an earnings call on Tuesday, Walgreens clarified that it would close around 14% of its roughly 8,600 US locations.

However, it didn’t foresee reductions in staffing, which is already strained. Instead, Walgreens will redeploy affected workers to other locations.

Walgreens to close 1,200 stores over next 3 years: locations and dates

As part of its footprint optimization strategy, Walgreens said that it will close 500 stores toward the end of next year. Over the next three years a total of 1,200 locations that are cash flow negative and underperforming will be shuttered.

CFO Manmohan Mahajan said the pharmacy chain would prioritize stores where the company owns the location and the ones where lease expirations are due in the next few years. “While the decision to close the store is never an easy one, we feel confident in our ability to continue to serve our customers,” Wentworth said.

The CEO wants to re-orient the company as a retail pharmacy and focus growth on its core lines of business. “This turnaround will take time, but we are confident it will yield significant financial and consumer benefits over the long term.”

Since taking over the top job, Wentworth has unveiled plans to remove multiple mid-level executives and a $1 billion cost cutting program. So far, Walgreens has reduced its net debt by $1.9 billion he told investors on Tuesday.