While drugstores are convenient hubs when you need to pick up a few necessities, their main role is to provide our monthly medications or antibiotics. You might even know the pharmacist by name and head in for medical advice when allergy or flu season rolls around. As such, if your local pharmacy suddenly closes up shop, it's can throw off your whole routine. Now, one popular drugstore chain announced it's doing just that, with more closures coming down the pike. Read on to find out which locations are closing in November.
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Several drugstores have been closing.
Jonathan Weiss / ShutterstockEven though pharmacies are a necessity for many, that hasn't stopped nationwide chains from closing locations. In Nov. 2021, CVS announced that it would be closing 900 locations over the next three years, working out to 300 stores annually. The company said the closures would establish a "new retail footprint strategy aligned to evolving customer needs," and since the spring, stores have been consistently shuttering nationwide.
In April, Rite Aid announced it would be closing 145 stores in 2022 alone. This added an additional 82 stores to the amount shoppers originally anticipated losing as of a Dec. 2021 announcement. The company cited unprofitability as the main reason for the closures, which were intended to "significantly reduce costs."
Another big-name drugstore chain has also been closing stores this year, and more are on the docket next month.
One state will be hit the hardest.
ShutterstockWalgreens is a household name, operating over 8,800 stores as of Oct. 2022, according to data from ScrapeHero. But that number has been dwindling since 2019 when the retailer announced it would be closing 200 locations. Now, New Yorkers will be saying goodbye to quite a few of these pharmacies ahead of the holiday season.
According to WSYR-TV, four Walgreens in the Central New York area will be closed in November, including locations in North Syracuse, Canastota, Auburn, and Pulaski. Fraser Engerman, senior director of external relations for Walgreens, told the outlet that the decision was "difficult" and that "a number of factors" were taken into consideration when closing locations, "including dynamics of the local market and changing buying habits of our customers." The outlet did not confirm if additional locations are set to close in the area.
While official closure dates weren't confirmed for those in the central region, a Walgreens in Dunkirk, New York, will see its final day on Nov. 14, the drugstore chain confirmed to WDOE News. A Walgreens spokesperson provided a similar statement to the outlet, again citing changes in "buying habits" as the reason for shuttering the Western New York store. According to ABC-affiliate NEWS10, Cobleskill is yet another New York town losing a Walgreens, slated for a day later than Dunkirk, on Nov. 15.
Several Walgreens will be shut down in a southern state, too.
iStockIn Louisville, Kentucky, residents are losing four Walgreens stores before November ends, The Courier Journal reported. Walgreens again confirmed the closures via email, with a spokesperson citing the same reasons as those in New York.
The stores set to close in the Louisville area are located in Beechmont, Taylor Berry, Pleasure Ridge Park, and downtown Louisville, per The Courier Journal. The outlet noted that these closures are "likely to be noticed by neighbors in the area," as both Beechmont and Taylor Berry will be left without Walgreens stores. The closure of locations in Pleasure Ridge Park and downtown Louisville will leave just one Walgreens in each area, and the latter will be even more limited, as its remaining location only operates as a pharmacy.
In both New York and Kentucky, customers were reassured that their prescriptions would be automatically transferred to other Walgreens, and customers would receive more information via a letter in the mail.
Closures are even more widespread.
ShutterstockOn Nov. 9, Florida will also say goodbye to a Walgreens in Tampa's Ybor Heights, which is one of the few "standalone pharmacies" nearby, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay reported. The store announced the closure with a sign outside the entrance, as seen in a photo taken by the outlet. Employees were reportedly told that the Tampa Walgreens is part of a larger spate of closures—which appears to be evident.
On the opposite end of the coast, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Walgreens will be closing a store on Nov. 9, Universal Hub reported, citing the Hyde Park Facebook group. Moving west, a Craig, Colorado, Walgreens is shuttering the following week. According to the Craig Daily Press, its last day of operation is set for Nov. 16.
