Walgreens is the newest chain to face mass closures.
On Thursday, Walgreens announced that the corporate would close a “significant” variety of low-revenue stores across the country.
“The current pharmacy model is not sustainable,” CEO Tim Wentworth told investors on a conference call. “Changes are imminent.”
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Wentworth said the corporate would “take a close look” at 25% of its stores that could possibly be considered for closure over the following three years, meaning a complete of two,150 stores could possibly be affected by closure.
Walgreens currently operates 8,600 stores.
“Consumers are completely surprised by the absolute prices of things, and the fact that some of them may not go up doesn’t change their resistance to current prices,” Wentworth told investors. “So we’ve had to be really vigilant, especially on the non-essentials.”
Walgreens Boots Alliance shares fell over 24% in 24 hours after releasing third-quarter 2024 results that reported revenue of $36.4 billion.
The company announced that it had received a 2.7 billion dollar bill from the IRS after the agency conducted audits and reportedly found problems with Walgreens’ transfer pricing between 2014 and 2017.
Related: Walgreens unveils recent CEO and $1 billion cost-cutting plan
“The company intends to vigorously defend its position on the transfer pricing issue before the IRS Office of Administrative Appeals and, if necessary, in court and is confident of its ability to prevail on the merits,” Walgreens said in its criticism on the time.
Since Thursday afternoon, Walgreens Boots Alliance was below almost 59% in comparison with the previous 12 months.
