Store closures have been dominating the news cycle this year, with more and more businesses shuttering locations or going out of business for good. CVS and Walgreens are just two of the retailers cutting down on brick-and-mortar stores, but that’s not a complete surprise. In Nov. 2021, CVS announced that it would be closing 900 stores over a three-year stint, and in 2019, Walgreens confirmed that 200 stores would be axed. Both drugstores have stayed true to these promises, and now they’ve confirmed which locations are next to go. Read on to find out where Walgreens and CVS are closing up shop, starting Monday.
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The fall has been filled with drugstore closures.
CVS shuttered several stores in the first half 2022, and the retailer has continued closures this fall. A CVS store was closed in Fresno, California, in September, and locations in Falls Church, Virginia, and Johnson City, Tennessee, were shut down the following month.
Walgreens has also been making moves. Just last week, the drugstore chain announced a slew of closures across five states, including multiple stores in the Central New York area. Stores in North Syracuse, Canastota, Auburn, and Pulaski are set to close, though no date has been confirmed. The Walgreens in Dunkirk, however, will see its final day on Nov. 14, and the location in Cobleskill is set to be closed on Nov. 15.
Four stores in the Louisville, Kentucky, area are also going out before the end of November, as are individual locations in Tampa; Boston; and Craig, Colorado.
Walgreens provided similar reasons for all of the New York closures specifically, calling the decisions “difficult,” and adding that “a number of factors” were taken into consideration.
This list of stores may seem long enough, but CVS and Walgreens now have plans to add to it.
Another Walgreens is on the chopping block.
Yet another New York Walgreens is shutting down, this time in Rochester. According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the store on the corner of Thurston Road and Brooks Avenue will close for good on Nov. 7.
This will create a “pharmacy desert,” the outlet reported, a term applied to low-income areas without a pharmacy in a half-mile radius to serve those without vehicles. A resident called the closure “devastating,” especially for those who walk to get their prescriptions and other necessities—after Monday, the closest Walgreens for residents will be two miles away.
According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Walgreens is being closed because it “doesn’t process enough prescriptions.”
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Additional East Coast Walgreens are leaving.
The following week, on Nov. 15, the Walgreens in the Locust Point/Riverside neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, will be gone for good, SouthBMore.com reported. When asked about the closure, Walgreens provided a statement similar to those for the Central New York stores.
“As we move forward on our strategy to expand Walgreens role as a leader in the delivery of healthcare, we are focused on creating the right network of stores in the right locations to best meet the needs of the communities we serve,” Karen May, senior manager of Walgreens health communications, told SouthBMore.com.
“We have made the difficult decision to close this location. There are a number of factors that we take into consideration, including the dynamics of the local market and changing buying habits of our customers,” May said.
A bit farther north, another Walgreens is saying goodbye in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston, per Universal Hub. Reports were confirmed by City Councilor Brian Worrell. As the Walgreens “serves so many people” in the area, officials confirmed they are looking into other options for obtaining prescriptions.
CVS has already axed another location.
CVS isn’t slowing down with closures either, with a location in Lacon, Illinois having just been shuttered on Nov. 3, Journal Star reported. As with Walgreens stores in Mattapan and Rochester, community members are concerned about how older adults will get their prescriptions without the Lacon location.
Amy Thibault, a spokeswoman for CVS, confirmed that prescriptions will be transferred to another CVS, the closest of which is nine miles away, per the Journal Star.
“Our teams continue to provide the community with outstanding service at these locations,” Thibault told the outlet.
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Some closures are just temporary.
While the Illinois location will be shut down entirely, residents in Kansas City, Missouri, have access to their local CVS, but not to their prescriptions. According to ABC-affiliate KMBC 9, the drugstore on State Line Road and Blue Ridge Boulevard was open on Oct. 28, but when going to the pharmacy department, customers saw a sign that stated it was “temporarily closed due to no staff.”
The Missouri Pharmacy Association told KMBC 9 that this issue is part of a larger trend across the country: Many have seen pharmacy hours cut or no pharmacist at all due to inflation and issues with reimbursement from insurance companies.
However, in a statement to the outlet, a CVS spokesman said that the company is not dealing with staffing shortages in the Kansas City area.
“Our pharmacy teams have been on the frontlines of the pandemic response for nearly three years, administering COVID-19 tests and providing life-saving vaccinations,” the statement reads. “We’ve been successful in ensuring our stores and pharmacies remain open to help support our customers, patients and communities and are not experiencing any staffing issues in Kansas City.”
