Walgreens Boots Alliance, a pharmacy giant headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, has announced plans to shut down 1,200 stores over the next three years. Of these closures, 500 are expected to take place within the next year.
The decision comes as a result of low drug reimbursement rates and slower consumer spending. The company aims to reposition itself as a retail pharmacy by closing approximately 14% of its U.S. locations and reallocating affected employees.
This strategy is known as “footprint optimization” and will allow Walgreens to focus on its core lines of business such as pharmacies and specialty pharmacy services for fiscal year 2025.
During their recent earnings call, Walgreens revealed that they have taken steps towards cutting expenses and reducing net debt by $1.9 billion. CEO Tim Wentworth emphasized the importance of building on this progress in order to stabilize their core economics moving forward.
