Walgreens is set to close a substantial number of its roughly 8,600 locations across the United States as the company looks to reset the struggling pharmaceutical chain’s business.
The company didn’t announce a specific number of store closures, but it said Thursday that it is planning “significant” closures of underperforming stores across America as part of a multiyear optimization program.
Walgreen’s is the only pharmacy in my town. I never go there much because my insurance forces me to use a mail order pharmacy for my prescriptions and there’s no other reason to stop there.
The main thing I’ve gone to Walgreen’s for in the past few years was for vaccinations and the experience was off putting. They make customers sign up for an appointment online and do/did not accept walk-in vaccinations. But every time I (and everyone I’ve talked to) showed up for the appointment, it’s a 45+ minute wait. It makes no sense.
And I didn’t even learn my lesson. The last time I tried to go in for a covid shot, thinking it would save time, they turned me away once I got there. They asked if I’d been around anybody in the past (I’m thinking 10 days or so) that has tested positive, and I explained that my neighbor tested positive a few days after we’d chatted briefly outdoors and from a distance. That was enough to disqualify me apparently. Oddly enough, I just went to another pharmacy for the shot and they didn’t even ask that question at all.