I’m not terribly shocked hearing the news that Walgreens is closing 8,600 stores. Yup, your local Walgreens may be under the chopping block. According to reports, the closures are due to underperforming stores, and these closings make up roughly 25% of the locations in the United States. They aim to close stores that may be struggling with heavy theft or those that are underperforming in sales. The kicker? They said they’ll consider closing even more stores if things don’t improve. Walgreens shares fell 20% and inflation has taken a big bite out of their regular line of business as well as pharmacy sales.
Walgreens reps discuss how shoppers have been selection and price-sensitive about their purchases. This irony is somewhat funny considering how bloated the prices are at both Walgreens and CVS. I can buy some deo at Target for say $4.99 and I go to my local Walgreens and it’s like $7.99. Walgreens prices are insane to me on everyday essentials like toothpaste, deo, body wash, etc…! And let’s not discuss the makeup prices. Yes, there are plenty of sales and coupons but when you’re running low on toilet paper or deo and need it right away shelling out for it at Walgreens just isn’t it. Confession time but I haven’t shopped beauty or even essentials at Walgreens and CVS in ages. And I’m not on any meds so need to use their pharmacy and even when I do need a z pack when I have a cold I normally head to my local pharmacy as not only is the service better but I’m helping a small business.
Apparently back in May Walgreens slashed prices on over a 1,000 items to entice shoppers into the store. I’m not sure exactly what those items are but if you shop there to shout out in the comments if you noticed things being a bit cheaper at your store. But in doing this Walgreens has stated it hurts their profitability. In order to gain profits they stated they’d be removing eight national brands and replacing those brands with their own house brands. They didn’t specifically state which brands but only said they’d be ones in the health and wellness categories. Call a snob but I don’t always like house brands as feel like they aren’t the same as brand names. Don’t get me wrong some are good but many aren’t so great.
As I said above Walgreens closing all these stores comes as no great surprise. I think their prices are grossly high compared to other stores especially in the beauty department (Sorry, but I’m not paying near $15 or more for drugstore mascara!). Everyone wants a good deal and Walgreens is sadly, not the place you’ll find it.
What do you think of Walgreens closings?
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