Two Duane Reade stores in New York City will close in the coming weeks. This is part of parent company Walgreens’ reorganization plan, which was announced last year and implemented after a private equity firm acquired the national drug store chain in March.
The closings come as pharmacy chain rival Rite Aid has filed for bankruptcy and plans to close all of its stores in the Empire State.
Last fall, Walgreens announced it would close 1,200 underperforming stores nationwide over a three-year span. The first such stores would close by the end of the company’s fiscal year, which ends in August 2025. Some of those stores have already closed.
There are currently 470 Walgreens and Duane Reade stores in New York State. According to an analysis by Nexstar, 54 Walgreens stores in 17 states are set to close in the coming weeks.
The Duane Reade stores shuttering in New York City are at 5008 5th Ave. in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, closing on May 21; and at 1235 Lexington Ave. on the Upper East Side, due to close on June 24.
Walgreens has been suffering from reduced cash flow, and more than half of its $7 billion in net debt is due next year.
Under CEO Tim Wentworth, the company is closing thousands of stores and has embarked on a $1 billion cost-cutting program, which has been somewhat successful.
It currently employs 312,000 people in 12,500 stores in eight countries, according to its website, a sharp decline from the 25 countries, 450,000 employees, and 21,000 stores it had four years ago.
Many of the company’s missteps were under former CEO Stefano Pessina, also its largest single shareholder, whose 2007-2014 tenure at the helm saw Walgreens’ market capitalization shrink to less than $50 billion.
