CVS Is Closing Hundreds of Stores By End of Year
CVS is one of the top pharmacy chains in the country, but several locations are set to close under a company-wide shift.
According to Newsweek, CVS announced in its annual report that it will be closing 271 retail stores this year. The closures are coming as part of an "enterprise-wide restructuring plan intended to streamline and simplify the organization."
Hundreds of stores are set to close this year, following the roughly 900 locations that have closed between 2022 and 2024. CVS tells Newsweek that the closures will allow the company to optimize the existing locations.
Reasons for the closures include "population shifts, consumer buying patterns, store and pharmacy density, pharmacy care access, and community health needs."
The company stressed that the closures were not due to industry pressures - the same pressures that have caused trouble for other retailers around the country.
CVS has yet to reveal a comprehensive list of the 271 locations that will close, but a consumer website The Krazy Coupon Lady has compiled a list of the states to announce impending closures.
Those states include Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Locations in Washington D.C. are set to close, as well as pharmacies in major cities like San Francisco, Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston and Cleveland.
A CVS spokesperson says after the stores are closed to improve the company's ability to serve more customers, "85% of people in the U.S. will still live within 10 miles of a CVS Pharmacy."
The company also says that it plans to open around 30 new locations this year, including some inside of Target stores.
Some current CVS locations are in the same shopping center or on the same street as Target stores with pharmacies in them, adding to the need to close the redundant locations.
The state of Arkansas could also be affected following new legislation that may affect the company's locations there. A new law prevents Pharmacy Benefit Managers from owning and operating pharmacies in the state.
"All of our 23 Arkansas stores are currently open and will continue to operate for the immediate future," CVS says.
"We're doing everything we can to continue to provide pharmacy services to our 340,000+ Arkansas pharmacy patients."