Uproar as America's largest pharmacy chain shuts 270 stores... after closing 900 in just three years

Daily Mail​

6 days ago

The pharmacy retail industry is struggling.
CVS, the chain with over 9,000 locations across the US, confirmed to DailyMail.com that 270 locations would shutter this year.
The closures, which the company initially announced in October 2024, have been underway in several states, with Alabama, New York, Maryland, and Missouri seeing the largest amount of closures.
A concerned customer wrote on Reddit: 'Where will 540 pharmacists and 810 technicians go then?'
CVS said it does not comment on which locations will close. But the plan is part of a years-long strategy to right-size the amount of pharmacy locations.
In 2021, the company started shuttering 300 stores each year. CVS shuttered 900 US locations in three years.
But it also opened over 100 new locations, including 30 inside of Target locations.
'We're focused on ensuring we have the right kinds of stores and the right number of stores in the right locations,' a CVS spokesperson told DailyMail.com.
'Even after the realignment work, 85 percent of people in the US will still live within 10 miles of a CVS Pharmacy,' the spokesperson added.
'And, while we're closing certain locations, we're also opening stores and pharmacies in areas where there's a need,' the spokesperson added.
The changes come as pharmacy retailers face severe headwinds against their critical businesses.
Upstart online brands — like Capsule and Blink Health — are attempting to eat into brick-and-mortar sales with more convenient delivery models.
Even Amazon entered the pharmaceutical space, launching its medication delivery platform in 2020.
'Luckily I don't depend only on CVS,' one Redditor said about the company's decision to shutter stores while facing the increasing competition.
Meanwhile, front-store retail sales, where customers grabbed toothpaste and Tylenol while raking in millions for pharmacies, have cooled.
Shoppers have largely turned to lower-priced retailers while the US economy struggles with sticky inflation after the 2020 pandemic, retail experts have told DailyMail.com.
These challenges have sent CVS competitors into tailspins. Several brands have launched mass closure events or declared bankruptcy.
Walgreens has been pressing ahead with plans to shutter hundreds of stores.
The pharmacy brand pledged to shutter 1,200 locations by 2027.
Walgreens is also reportedly considering a $10 billion deal to sell itself to sell itself to private equity firm Sycamore Partners.
'Walgreens has been in a tailspin for a long period of time,' retail expert Neil Saunders, of Global Data, previously explained to the Daily Mail.
'Profitability and sales are under pressure, especially on the retail side of the business.'
Meanwhile, Rite Aid has entered its second bankruptcy in two years.
The company, struggling to compete with lower-cost models and lampooned by billions of dollars of debt from opioid settlements, said it would shutter all of its locations.
'This is going to cause a pharmacy desert in my neighborhood and prescription nightmare,' one worried customer wrote on Reddit.
CVS has stepped in, purchasing pharmacy locations from Rite Aid.
They're expected to take on the most customers, having bid on the prescription files of 625 Rite Aid pharmacies across fifteen states.
CVS's closures come after a widespread 'retail apocalypse' last year saw major companies file for bankruptcy and brick-and-mortar stores close in their droves.
Up until mid-December, US retailers shut 7,300 stores - up nearly 60 percent from 2023.