Walgreens announces plan to close 1,200 stores over next 3 years

Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to close 1,200 stores during the next three years, with 500 closures set for next year, in the face of low drug reimbursement rates and slower consumer spending. 

The Deerfield, Illinois-based company on Tuesday said it would shutter roughly 14% of its U.S. locations and redeploy the majority of the workers impacted. "We are in a turnaround," Tim Wentworth, the drugstore chain's CEO, told an earnings call. 

"The closure of so many stores is emblematic of a company that is in trouble and is trying to course correct," commented Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData. "Walgreens spent years building its business through acquisitions and completely neglected the fundamentals of its stores and its retail operations," the analyst added.