It seems that these days, more retailers are closing stores than opening them. In recent months, GameStop, Sears, CVS, TGI Fridays, Foot Locker, Pizza Hut, Boston Market, Best Buy, Applebee's, Red Lobster, Pizza Hut, Walmart and many others have shuttered locations, and now, one of the biggest retailers in the country will be joining them. Walgreens is planning on closing around 1,200 stores.
With over 8,500 locations across the country, some are bound to underperform, but with Walgreens' low performing stores significantly affecting the company's bottom line, they intend to do something about it. Earlier this year, CEO Tim Wentworth said that "changes are imminent" for those locations, which account for nearly 25% of their stores. He added that closing a "significant portion" of them is a strong possibility if they don't improve. By the end of the current fiscal year, Walgreens will have closed 500 of them and in the following two years, hundreds more will follow, totaling 1,200.
Wentworth also said that the fiscal 2025 year will be an important "rebasing" one for the chain, stating, "This turnaround will take time, but we are confident it will yield significant financial and consumer benefits over the long term." Walgreens losses topped $3 billion in the final quarter of 2024.
No word yet on which stores will be closing.