More than 1,200 Walgreens stores will close over the next three years as the struggling drugstore chain attempts to complete a successful financial turnaround. The company said Tuesday that about 500 of the closures will occur in the current fiscal year, which began in September.
Walgreens did not reveal which locations will be shuttered. The chain has about 8,500 stores in the United States and more than 240 in Florida.
The closures were announced as the Deerfield, Illinois-based Company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $3 billion. Still, Walgreens officials remained optimistic about the chain’s long-term survival prospects.
“This turnaround will take time, but we are confident it will yield significant financial and consumer benefits over the long term,” Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth said in a statement.
Walgreens announced in June that a significant number of stores would be closing. At the time, Wentworth said, “We continue to face a difficult operating environment, including persistent pressures on the U.S. consumer and the impact of recent marketplace dynamics, which have
eroded pharmacy margins.”