As Walgreens Closes Stores, Strategy Emerges To Invest In Those That Remain

Even though Walgreens is closing 1,200 stores and perchance hundreds more, nan unit drugstore elephantine plans to put successful locations that stay by launching hundreds of little costly owned brands focused connected health, wellness and women’s health.

The caller strategy starting to look this week at HLTH 2024 successful Las Vegas and successful calls pinch analysts comes connected apical of investments successful more lucrative specialty drugstore services while reducing indebtedness that already decreased $1.9 cardinal successful fiscal 2024.

“Having earned our consumers' trust, so our logic to exist, we besides want to beryllium accessible and convenient, but we request to beryllium appropriately sized,” Tim Wentworth, who took complete arsenic Walgreens main executive serviceman a twelvemonth ago, told analysts connected nan company’s fiscal 4th fourth net call. “We person complete 8,000 stores, of which nan majority, astir 6,000, are profitable. This coagulated guidelines supports our condemnation successful a unit pharmacy-led exemplary that is applicable to our consumers, and we intend to put successful these stores complete nan adjacent respective years.”

Walgreens said nan institution will beryllium much selective astir nan nationalist brands it offers customers while expanding owned brands. “We are sharpening our attraction arsenic a destination for categories for which we judge we are uniquely positioned to lead, for illustration wellness and wellness, and specifically women's health,” Wentworth said. “We launched complete 300 caller owned marque (products) this year, focused successful cardinal categories, and we expect to motorboat different 300 positive successful fiscal 2025.”

In addition, Walgreens plans to put much successful training of nan drugstore workforce that will apt turn smaller fixed nan shop closures, but Wentworth said nan institution plans to travel nan company’s “historic believe to redeploy nan mostly of nan workforce successful those stores that we close.”

“We are looking to beryllium capable to put backmost into our stores, some successful position of superior and, frankly, successful position of our associates, successful position of training and truthful forth,” Wentworth said.

And portion of nan finance successful pharmacists and drugstore technicians will travel from a push by Walgreens and rival drugstore chains to amended payments from wellness insurers, authorities wellness programs and employers to relationship for nan expanding domiciled of these healthcare providers.

In abstracted HLTH 2024 panels connected Monday, Rick Gates, Walgreens main drugstore officer, and Mary Langowski, president of Walgreens U.S. Healthcare business, said pharmacists aren’t being paid for nan cardinal domiciled they play astatine reducing infirmary admissions aliases improving wellness outcomes. Pharmacists counsel patients connected really to decently return their medications and boost adherence, but insurers mostly don’t salary for that work, Walgreens executives said.

“Now we are reimbursed only for putting pills successful bottles,” Gates said. “(Pharmacists) request to beryllium reasonably reimbursed for nan services that thrust improved wellness outcomes.”

Walgreens executives said pharmacies made strides during nan COVID-19 pandemic by vaccinating tens of millions of Americans erstwhile it wasn’t agelong agone that pharmacists didn’t moreover person nan expertise to vaccinate group fixed authorities scope of believe rules. Though specified rules are changing, much needs to beryllium done, Gates and Langowski said.

“We are nether utilizing pharmacists successful this country,” Langowski said. “How do we get pharmacists paid for much services. We person seen unthinkable occurrence pinch vaccinations alone.”

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