TACOMA, Wash. — Walgreens is planning to close 1,200 stores by 2027, including 500 closures for this fiscal year.
The retail drugstore chain says a quarter of its 8,700 locations in the U.S. are unprofitable amid low drug reimbursement rates and slower consumer spending.
It’s bad news for Walgreens customers.
Many in Tacoma already know the feeling after a store on 56th Street was shut down in April.
“They closed the other store down, too many people coming here,” said one customer at the Walgreens on 38th Street.
Many Walgreens customers are having to drive further and wait in line longer to get prescriptions filled at other locations.
“The drive-thru is horrible, but if you go inside just expect to be in there for quite a while,” said Brad Samaduroff, a customer.
Last weekend, some customers got text messages from Walgreens notifying them it temporarily closed the pharmacy on Saturday and then reopened on Sunday.
Walgreens customer Jeff Jensen says he’s even seen tempers boil over as people wait for their prescriptions.
“There have been a couple people in the drive-thru that got practically violent, swearing at the poor pharmacist and so forth – having to wait so long and frustrated, but of course, that’s not called for,” said Jensen.
Tacoma customers now hope Walgreens doesn’t end up shutting down another store in their community.
Walgreens has not revealed which stores will close.
It will focus on poor-performing stores where the company owns the property and where leases are expiring.