Latest news with #Thibault
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
CVS is closing 270 pharmacies in 2025. Are any in Wisconsin?
CVS plans to close 270 stores in 2025, joining other pharmacy chains and big box retailers in the U.S who have initiated mass closures in recent months. The Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based company announced the closures in a mid-October press release, CVS Director of External Communications Amy Thibault told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The chain closed 900 stores between 2022 and 2024, after announcing it would reduce its "store density" in November 2021, according to a statement. It currently operates more than 9,000 stores across the U.S. Despite the closures, "85% of people in the U.S. will still live within 10 miles" of a CVS location, according to a CVS statement. The chain also said it has plans to open nearly 30 stores this year. In Wisconsin, three locations closed earlier in 2025, according to Thibault. They were located at: Beloit: 1063 4th St. Milwaukee: 3030 W. Villard Ave. West Allis: 9220 W. Greenfield So, are any other Wisconsin CVS pharmacies planning to shutter this year? Here's what to know: There are not any other planned closures in Wisconsin for 2025, Thibault confirmed. More: Walgreens is closing 500 pharmacies in 2025. Are any in Wisconsin? CVS operates in 48 Wisconsin cities, according to its website. You can find the pharmacy closest to you by using its store locator. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: CVS store closures: Are Wisconsin locations closing?
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rite Aid closures adding up. Is your favorite Tacoma-area store on the list?
More Rite Aid/Bartell stores are closing in Washington state as a result of the chain's latest bankruptcy proceedings. A court filing entered May 23 included the following locations in the state among 151 additional stores set to close nationwide: ▪ Auburn: 1509 Auburn Way S. ▪ Maple Valley: 22117 SE 237th St. (Bartell Drugs) ▪ Milton: 900 East Meridian Suite 23 ▪ Port Orchard: 3282 Bethel Road S.E. ▪ University Place: 3840 Bridgeport Way W. Thirteen sites in the state, mostly Rite Aid but a few involving its subsidiary Bartell Drug, have been slated as closing, including previously announced locations in Anacortes, Ephrata, Granite Falls, Kingston, North Bend, Omak, Snoqualmie and Yelm. No specific closure dates were included, and Rite Aid representatives as of Wednesday afternoon had not responded to The News Tribune's request for more information. The Idaho Statesman reported this week that two Idaho stores added to the latest list are slated to close in June, with the retail and pharmacies closing on different dates. A Worker Adjustment and Training Notification filing with the state of Washington on May 7 listed 131 layoffs with Bartell Drug (Rite Aid) Distribution Center in Des Moines starting June 4. Both Bartell and Rite Aid have imposed deadlines for returns and gift card use as of June 5, and Rite Aid Rewards points stopped being issued on May 6. Rite Aid in mid-May announced that it had entered into a series of 'sale agreements and pharmacy services transition agreements' involving more than 1,000 stores. In Washington state, it noted the 'the sale and operation by CVS Pharmacy of many Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs stores located in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.' Amy Thibault is executive director, corporate communications – external Affairs for CVS Health. In an emailed statement, she told The News Tribune earlier this month, 'CVS Pharmacy participated in a bankruptcy court approved bidding process and has agreed to acquire the prescription files of 625 Rite Aid pharmacies across fifteen states in areas that CVS serves and to acquire and operate 64 Rite Aid stores in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.' CVS's bids were approved May 21 by the The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey, and a release from CVS stated, 'Additional details will be available closer to the transaction closing dates in the coming weeks.' Sites that remain on Rite Aid's website as open in Pierce County include two stores in Tacoma (1912 N. Pearl St. and 7041 Pacific Ave.) stores in Bonney Lake, Lakewood and Spanaway and four locations in Puyallup. Bartell has three sites remaining in Pierce County (two in Tacoma, one in Gig Harbor). As for the switch, Thibault said CVS was working to ensure a 'seamless' transition for patients and customers with no interruptions of pharmacy care. 'Once the sale is finalized, we look forward to welcoming Rite Aid colleagues who are interested in applying to join the CVS team.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Survey shows people now feel safer in downtown Spokane, but major hurdles remain
May 24—Spokane residents and visitors from elsewhere in the county report feeling safer downtown today than they did six months ago, though widespread concerns remain, according to a recent survey. This is the second of at least four biannual polls sponsored by Greater Spokane Incorporated, a coalition of prominent businesses, and conducted by California-based firm EMC Research. While some questions address perceptions of the region at large, much of the survey focuses on downtown Spokane. Many of the findings align with the first survey released in October: addressing homelessness and public safety remain the top priorities for respondents. Most feel the region is headed in the wrong direction and do not feel their local elected leaders — whether they live in the city, valley, county or otherwise — have a good plan to address the issues of their community, and do not spend tax dollars responsibly. Notably, these findings largely align with essentially every community EMC Research has surveyed in recent years, whether Spokane, Seattle, San Francisco or Santa Clara — though at least that latter community, which has a median income more than twice that of Spokane's, does appear unusually satisfied with their city's leadership. But while in most cases there has not been a seismic shift in surveyed sentiment, there has been a notable improvement in perceptions of safety in downtown Spokane, though still with plenty of room for improvement. About 70% of those surveyed, whether living in Spokane or elsewhere, stated they feel safe visiting downtown Spokane in the daytime, an improvement of roughly 10% in just six months. Those sentiments drop precipitously during the nighttime, from 37% among Spokane residents to 30% overall, though this is still a 9- to 14-point improvement since October. There has been a noticeably smaller shift, however, in how respondents answered when asked whether they worried about the future of downtown Spokane. Among Spokane residents, 82% still say they worry, down from 86% in October. Overall, 82% of respondents again say they worry for the downtown's future, though this is down from 89% in October. And a majority of respondents, 61% overall, still say they are visiting downtown today less than they were a year ago. Andrew Thibault, Senior Principal for EMC Research, said he noticed the same lag in Seattle, where the chamber of commerce has been funding biannual surveys for longer and there is more of a trend line to examine. "Because voters have been hearing about these challenges for a long time and are hearing that these challenges are being addressed, they're going to be slow to give credit and act on that," Thibault suggested. And without more data over a longer period of time, it can also be hard to gauge how lasting changes are between surveys or to have much of a sense of what is driving those trends, Thibault added. For instance, some respondents may have said they are visiting downtown less because they are working from home more than they were a year ago, but with more data points, it'll be easier to point to a longer-term trend and suggest that changes in policy are responsible. Thibault believes it will be about the fourth survey, due around April 2026, when he will feel more confident that the trends between surveys aren't "blips." It has been reported that the survey found respondents feel safer in their neighborhoods today than they did six months ago by about 17 percentage points, though the actual findings are more complicated. Asked whether they felt their neighborhoods had less crime than two years ago, there was a 17-point positive shift from October, though this went almost entirely to the "feels about the same as two years ago" column, so the survey only suggests fewer people feel like things are not getting worse. Only 8% of Spokanites reported feeling safer than two years ago, up from 7% in October. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown, in an interview, said the uptick in perceptions of safety are positive, but continues to criticize the survey's focus on Spokane and lack of questions regarding other jurisdictions that play a role in public safety and addiction. "I would still like a survey that didn't just talk about the city's policies," Brown said. "You have a regional health district that ought to be at the center of the conversation, or the county that receives behavioral health dollars. I get that for the person on the street out there, they don't sort out who does what, but it is on all of us to work on these issues." John Allen, owner of Vino! A Wine Shop, which is located a few blocks from the troubled intersection of Second and Division, doesn't believe Spokane's struggles with homelessness and addiction are unique or particularly bad for a city of its size. But he also questions whether the better perceptions found in GSI's recent survey have more to do with the weather than policy. "We're coming out of winter. It's been cold." Allen said. "We'll see more people outside in the next six months. This is a very comfortable place to be homeless — there are parks and places to crash and get food. It's just more visible in the summertime." While surveys like the Pulse purport to illustrate the views of an entire population, every poll comes with caveats and limitations. Because of the focus on downtown Spokane, it's not necessarily clear if respondents in the Valley, for example, were referring to their own City Council when asked if they trusted their government to spend money wisely, which could somewhat limit the value of the survey for their own elected leaders. And in some cases, the changes between now and October's survey are within the margin of error, which was 5.66 points for Spokane residents and 4.4 for the overall population surveyed. Of the 600 people surveyed, 300 live in Spokane, which was deliberately disproportionately high in order to lower the city's margin of error, Thibault said. Some demographics were also disproportionately surveyed, which could have an impact on the overall results, as those populations often proved to have very different opinions and priorities. Respondents were far more likely to have a college degree, skewed older than the county's actual adult population and were slightly more likely to be white, female or a homeowner. These factors could somewhat skew the data, as younger and non-homeowning respondents were significantly less likely to cite homelessness as a top concern and significantly more likely to prioritize housing affordability, while older voters were far more likely to say that hiring more police officers should be a top priority. Homeowners were 12 percentage points more likely to say they didn't feel safe downtown day or night, notable given the higher proportion of renters living downtown. There remains, however, no more consistent divide in perceptions than people of different political persuasions. Left-leaning voters are 30-40 percentage points more likely to say they feel safe downtown, day or night, than conservative or moderate voters. Both sides of the political spectrum have improved attitudes on safety downtown since October, though liberals expressed a six-point improvement at day compared to 10 points for conservatives, while liberals expressed a 16-point improvement at night compared to 6 points for conservatives. Republicans were 30 points more hostile to growth in their area than Democrats and around 30 points less trusting of the city of Spokane to spend tax dollars responsibly. Two-thirds of Democrats report feeling as safe or safer in their neighborhoods than they did two years ago, while two-thirds of Republicans report feeling less safe. Concerns over personal finances amid broader economic conditions have flipped between the two parties since the last survey in October, which was released ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. In October, 83% of Republicans expressed concern about how the economy might affect their personal finances compared to 65% of Democrats. In May's poll, 70% of Republicans expressed concern compared to 84% of Democrats. Among independents, the rate of concern rose from 72% to 82% in the last six months.
CNBC
19-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Ambitious Gen Z lead the return to office — here's how they are using it to get ahead
Some ambitious Gen Z professionals are leading the return-to-office trend, eager to climb the corporate ladder, learn from their older peers and upend stereotypes about their generation. Born between 1997 and 2012, many members of Gen Z started their first jobs in the midst of the pandemic. As remote and hybrid work became the new norm, the youngest generation at work were often scapegoated for the rise in empty offices, facing a flurry of criticism for being lazy and shirking in-person work. Recently, JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon complained that while he has been working seven days a week since the pandemic, "the zoomers don't show up." Zoomers refers to Gen Z. Meanwhile, British businessman Lord Alan Sugar, 78, urged young workers to get back into the office saying they "just want to sit at home." However, contrary to those accusations, young workers up to the age of 24 are coming to the office an average of three days a week, higher than all other age groups, per a recent global study of 12,000 employees by real estate firm JLL. Additionally, Gen Z report craving more in-person interaction, with 91% of Gen Z desiring a balance between virtual and in-person opportunities to connect with colleagues and grow professionally, per a survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. adults by events company Freeman. Although young workers enjoy the benefits of remote work and flexibility, they view the office as "a launchpad for their careers," Dan Schawbel, a managing partner at research firm Workplace Intelligence said. CNBC Make It interviewed three Gen Zers about how being in the office is helping them get ahead. Gen Z have been said to have made several corporate faux pas in recent years from channeling the "office siren" aesthetic to using TikTok slang like "ick," due to their inexperience. The office provides an environment for young workers to get to grips with corporate norms from communication skills to dress codes. Trust specialist, Sophia Thibault, said the pandemic hit in the middle of her first year in college affecting her ability to socialize. So when her first job at MRHFM law firm required her to be in the office five days a week, she welcomed the opportunity. "At first it was a little annoying having to be in office every single day, but I think it helped me really transition into the workforce," the 24-year-old said. Being around colleagues 40 hours a week helped develop Thibault's ability to interact with a diverse group of people and pick up habits like corporate lingo, buzzwords, and the dress code by observing others — much of which can't be learned "behind a computer screen," she said. "Overall, my friends who I graduated with, like being in office because we have no idea really how to be a professional adult," she said. Max Ranzato, a 28-year-old associate lawyer based in New York, agreed with Thibault's view and recalled getting his first job out of college as a life science recruiter which shifted from full-time in the office to remote work after a year, because of the pandemic. Ranzato said remote work stalled his learning as his manager wasn't there anymore to give him advice. "Once it switched to remote, you lost all of the fun and perk of being a recruiter and then it just went to cold-calling people all day alone, not talking to anyone, not eating lunch with anybody, not really making friends," he said. "I definitely think working from home is very lonely." But for Gen Z, working in an office isn't just about filling the gaps in their corporate knowledge, it's also about getting ahead. "I want to be highly successful," said Ranzato, who now works at a law practice and commutes 90 minutes from Queens to New Jersey four days a week just to be in the office. "So I walk to the subway, take the subway to Penn Station to get the train, take a train to Newark, New Jersey, and then I Uber to the office," he explained. "It sounds very intense, but I don't mind it." Ranzato, who estimates his commute costs between $600 - $800 monthly, says it's worth it because as an ambitious lawyer hoping to make partner one day, he feels that his "learning grows exponentially while being in the office." In the office, Ranzato interacts with partners every day, observing their behavior and communication style in meetings and asking the questions he needs. "I just want to be paid well and be surrounded by the people that are going to guide my future. How can I learn when I'm not here with them?" His Gen Z friends who are accountants or engineers feel the same way and hope to be recognized by higher-ups. "They want money. They want to level up. They want to do what their bosses are doing," he said. Schawbel explained that the office environment accelerates career progression via "immersion," which is harder to replicate through a screen. Thibault said in her former job at law firm MRHFM, she and her Gen Z colleagues were always in the office, and were extremely motivated. "We were on top of our everyone in the office knew if you needed somebody to work on something, 'give it to the three girls, they'll get it done.'" Molly Gilbride, a 25-year-old media relations specialist in Seattle, said she's "confused" when Gen Z are accused of being lazy and shirking the office because in a prior role, Gen Z were the core group of workers coming into the office. "I think we value flexibility and the choice to be in the office, but that's not to say we don't like going into the office because it's too much work," she said. Even Gen Z workers who love being in the office, appreciate one or two work-from-home days a week, signaling an evolution of the traditional 9-5. "The future is overwhelmingly leaning toward hybrid," Schawbel said. "It's about the best of both worlds." Gilbride's current company allowed her to transition to a remote job due to personal issues, but she misses being in the office because it added a bit of "diversity" to her week. "The flexibility of remote work is fantastic and it's what I needed in my life at this moment in time, but I am trying my best to get back to a place where I can be hybrid because I love going to the office." Ranzato also enjoys his work-from-home Fridays because the "freedom" allows him to do the dishes, cook lunch, or fold clothes. With billable hours, he can make up his hours throughout the week, customizing the structure to fit his life. TikTok content creator Gigi Robinson believes "hybrid is the future." The New York-based 26-year-old doesn't work a full-time job because she lives with multiple chronic illnesses and regularly commutes hours for treatments during the working week. Robinson was studying at the University of Southern California when the pandemic hit and studying became strictly remote. "Serendipitously, Covid happened, and all of a sudden, the accessibility tools that I was once begging for: Can I Zoom into class? Can I do remote hand in? were accessible to everybody. And I was like, 'well, why was this so hard before?'" Robinson, who now runs a fully remote internship program at one of her companies, believes that remote work offers accessibility for people like herself. Remote Gen Z workers are not just slacking off, Thibault pointed out. She spoke of her surprise when an older colleague once mentioned that he sits by his pool when working from home. "When I'm working from home, I'm not sitting in my pool...I wouldn't be swimming in my pool during work hours and I wouldn't blatantly be telling co-workers that," she said. "I feel like Gen Z, we want to prove ourselves, this is our first chance to work and be professionals and we are very money-motivated and motivated by feedback, new positions… so that is what is driving us to work harder [and] be in the office. But also when we're at home, we're working hard as well."
Boston Globe
16-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
CVS bids on Rite Aid stores and patient data
Advertisement 'We're working closely with Rite Aid on plans to ensure that the transition will be seamless for patients and customers and access to pharmacy care is not interrupted,' said Thibault. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up The additional stores would further CVS's reach as a corporation that already owns Rite Aid received multiple other bids on some of its assets, including inventory and patient data, from 'We are not going to emerge from bankruptcy,' Rite Aid Chief Executive Officer Matthew Schroeder said to employees on Thursday, which was reported by Bloomberg. 'Once our assets are sold, Rite Aid will no longer exist.' Advertisement During the sale process, Rite Aid's stores will remain open, continue filling prescriptions, and provide vaccines, according to Thibault would not say how much CVS is offering for Rite Aid's assets, and did not answer questions about whether the chain would close any other of its stores. The company previously said it would The Pharmacy Guild, a union that has been 'We are especially concerned about the role of major chains like CVS, Walgreens, and Albertsons,' the union wrote in a statement. 'If these corporations are to absorb hundreds of new locations, there must be enforceable conditions attached to these sales: conditions that require stores to remain open for years; maintain or improve levels of service to patients and the community; respect the rights of employees to organize and take a neutral position on union efforts, and commit to bargaining in good faith.' The union urged regulators and policymakers to ensure these sales 'do not come at the expense of workers and the patients who rely on us.' A bankruptcy court judge is scheduled to conduct a hearing to approve the sales on May 21. Thibault said once the sale is finalized, Rite Aid employees who are interested can apply for their jobs at CVS. Rite Aid Related : Advertisement Rite Aid said then that its initial voluntary Chapter 11 filing would allow it to slash debt and resolve litigation. The company sold its relatively small Rite Aid was attempting to turn around its business in a tough environment for drugstores. Major chains and independent pharmacies have been Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Alexa Gagosz can be reached at
