Posted on 06/27/2024 2:29:10 PM PDT by george76
On a conference call with industry analysts on Thursday, Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth announced the company’s intention to eliminate a significant portion of its U.S. stores over the next three years.
While describing a quarter of the 8,500 stores as “underperforming,” Wentworth announced that the company would close a “significant portion” of these locations.
However, according to Wentworth, the precise number of closures is still undecided.
Wentworth also stated that Walgreens will implement certain modifications at the remaining underperforming locations in an effort to bring them back to life. If that doesn’t work, then “we will continue to consider closure if they don’t improve,” he added.
The news comes almost seven months after the company started a thorough examination of the company’s operations in reaction to concerns about stealing, consumer spending, and unfavorable developments in the pharmacy sector.
“Everything has been on the table,” Wentworth said. “We are at a point where the current pharmacy model is unsustainable.”
According to an earnings release on Thursday, the company reported $28.5 billion in revenue over the last three months, ending in May, which represented a small rise over the same time a year ago. However, the corporation stated that despite this, the resulted earnings fell very short of its expectations.
A prolonged period of high pricing that has put pressure on household budgets has left price-conscious consumers weary, contributing to the company’s current issues in the U.S. market.
“Our customers have become increasingly selective and price-sensitive in their purchases,” Wentworth said.
What “model” do they wish they had? All of us going down to a central warehouse to make it easy for them?
Or all with deliveries——except who is home if women and men work? That’s why the Avon and fuller Brush and milk deliveries are only on Saturday Evening Post cover posters now.
More people than ever are using prescriptions. Several per person including ones to combat the bad effects of the first two or three.
All medical doctors practice “medicine by blood test” and “medicine by prescriptions.”
Psychiatrists no longer talk hour by hour. They figure out which drugs to give, and find out which amount of dosage, and then prescribe them.
“Frankly I thought for the past few years that they put in too many new stores.”
I don’t believe what the company said. Drug stores have hugely overpriced merchandise because the drug part of the business carries the store. There are several tax advantages to selling drugs, so the rest of the merchandise is there to complete the requirements to get the tax advantage. The business model has been to buy good locations in pricey areas and let the property appreciate for a potential later sale.
What the company is probably saying is, they are losing inventory to theft, or the property is going down in value or both. So, they’re dumping the property now rather than ride it down. Chances are they’re closing places in deep blue states where the homeless control the streets and it’s dangerous for the employees to come to work and to be in the building at all.
Also, there’s another perspective. How can a store of 1500 square feet with a couple thousand overpriced items compete with Walmart or Target for those same items? Nothing they do with their prices will make a hill of beans difference. The company is lying so they don’t face a political $hitstorm by leaving bad areas because they’re bad areas. “Oh, no, no. There’s nothing wrong with the liberal politics. It’s just due to uhm...prices. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Prices. Sure.”
RE: I wonder if the stores that did poorly suffered a lot of shoplifting?
I cannot answer that.
Might sound unfairly like it was racissss.
Long overdue. Walgreens has done a lot of acquisitions. Many legacies remained open a mile from each other. Time many redundant locations were shuttered. It’s not as if they have much competition from independent pharmacists. Even Target has sold its pharmacies to CVS.
Stock is down over 22% TODAY alone.
It’s a pain in the ass to check out....I avoid ‘em like poison......not to mention They’re merchandise is expensive.
Can’t remember the last time I was in a stand-alone pharmacy. I get all that stuff at the grocery store or on the net.
Although I buy OTC stuff at my local Walgreens or CVS, I buy far more of other stuff at them. I have not bought a prescription medicine in at least 20 years.
Walgreens is the only place I can find flip sunglasess and I use to stop in for cold drinks and snacks when working (I now pick up thing at the store across the street from me).
My neighborhood Walgreens is a block away from my house at an intown location. I don’t think they have a shoplifting issue, but it is a small standalone location which may not meet the threshold they are looking for. Same for the one on the other side of town that both cater to a lower income clientele. The third in town Walgreens is a drive to location, but probably has more nardowells hanging around.
The DESTRUCTION OF CAPITALISM requires the DESTRUCTION OF ALL RETAIL BUSINESSES. The DARK UNDERBELLY of CLOWARD & PIVEN.
Fixed it.
This will result in drugSTORE deserts, not drug deserts.
Here’s a list of store closings as of today’s date:
https://usearch.com/dataset/walgreens-stores-closing-list
I know, right? Who the Hell goes to Walgreens or CVS for groceries or beer/liquor?
They should have always partnered up with a chain, like when Jewel and Osco merged.
I hope ours closes and a smokey pool hall opens. It’s useless. There’s nothing there that I can’t get at Publix.
A lot of Walgreen Drugs I’ve been in were pretty much dead. The pharmacists are nice, but getting help from anyone else in the store is impossible.
I probably didn’t help to build a bunch of new stores when CVS was already across the street.
What is CVS going to do??? Just about every Walgreens has a CVS across the street...And vice versa....
We like Walgreens but it has gone from normal
Prices to sone of the highest prices in town on much of its merchandise. Customers are leaving it in droves.
several years ago, walgreens built a store on practically every corner of our Front Range town; several closed almost right away ... one was converted to a Harbor Freight, so not all was lost ... walgreens and cvs sell practically everything at full retail price, so i don’t know how they stay in business, particularly since almost everything they sell can bought WAY cheaper from the big box stores here and/or amazon ...
““Our customers have become increasingly selective and price-sensitive in their purchases,” Wentworth said.
“
translation from corporatespeak to colloquial English: our customers have FINALLY figured out that they can buy the exact same stuff we sell for WAY less money at other places ...
There’s a lot of coded language that implies that is the case.
“It’s not just prices. It’s services, attitude and honesty.”
yep ... decades ago, i coined the following catch phrase for Walgreen’s pharmacies: “If we can F it up, we will!”
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