CVS and Walgreens are ailing. Here's why
2 months, 1 week ago

CVS and Walgreens are ailing. Here's why

NPR  

CVS and Walgreens are ailing. Here's why toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Not too long after Tim Wentworth became CEO of Walgreens, he revealed a stunning figure: Roughly a quarter of the pharmacy chain's stores do not make money. Sponsor Message The problem of prescriptions Given the retail struggles, pharmacies could perhaps simply ditch the convenience store and focus on selling medicine — except CVS and Walgreens say it's harder and harder to make a profit from this part of their business. "Historically, there was a view that there was a lot of customer loyalty to their specific retail pharmacy … and that patients, or consumers, would be all up in arms if they were forced to move their prescriptions," says Brian Tanquilut, health care services analyst at the investment bank Jefferies. Hoping reinvention is the cure These days, CVS and Walgreens are facing tough competition from pharmacies that don't depend as much on profits from prescriptions because they're part of retail giants, including Walmart and Costco.

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History of this topic

Walgreens is in particularly awful shape
1 week, 5 days ago

Walgreens is in particularly awful shape

CNN  

New York CNN — Drug stores around the United States are struggling. Walgreens has slipped behind CVS because it’s smaller than CVS, giving it less scale to negotiate prices with insurers and other health care entities that pay for most of the prescriptions people pick up. Walgreens is also more reliant on filling prescriptions through its pharmacy business and selling …

CVS and Walgreens close stores — rethink their role in our lives
2 months, 1 week ago

CVS and Walgreens close stores — rethink their role in our lives

NPR  

CVS and Walgreens close stores — rethink their role in our lives CVS and Walgreens are ailing. CVS and Walgreens are closing hundreds of stores and rethinking their role in our lives. They've gobbled up mom-and-pop shops, signed long leases for prime real estate, and now Walgreens says a quarter of its stores don't make money. There have been constant …

Drugstores tinker with new looks as their usual way of doing business faces challenges
4 months, 2 weeks ago

Drugstores tinker with new looks as their usual way of doing business faces challenges

Associated Press  

America’s drugstores are testing smaller locations and more ways to offer care as price-sensitive shoppers look elsewhere. “Everyone looks at health care and says, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a market that’s ripe for disruption,’” said Neil Saunders, managing director of consulting and data analysis firm GlobalData. “But it isn’t easy to disrupt.” Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth said recently that his company …

Drug store chains pushed out independent pharmacies. Here’s why they’re now closing too
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Drug store chains pushed out independent pharmacies. Here’s why they’re now closing too

CNN  

New York CNN — Walgreens said Thursday that it plans to close a “significant” number of its roughly 8,600 stores in the United States. Walgreens said in 2019 it would close 200 stores and last year announced an additional 150 store closures. Shifting trends Drug store chains are struggling because of falling reimbursement rates for prescription drugs, according to analysts …

Walgreens to take a hard look at underperforming stores, could shutter hundreds more
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Walgreens to take a hard look at underperforming stores, could shutter hundreds more

Associated Press  

Walgreens is finalizing a plan to fix its U.S. business that could result in closing hundreds of additional stores over the next three years. CEO Tim Wentworth told analysts Thursday morning that “changes are imminent” for about 25% of the company’s stores, which he said were underperforming. Wentworth said the company’s plan could include the closing of a “significant portion” …

Drugstore chain Walgreens cuts quarterly dividend to get more cash to grow its business
11 months, 2 weeks ago

Drugstore chain Walgreens cuts quarterly dividend to get more cash to grow its business

Associated Press  

Walgreens is chopping its dividend nearly in half as the drugstore chain looks to strengthen its balance sheet. The health care giant said Thursday that reducing its quarterly payout to shareholders to 25 cents per share will help free up capital to spend growing its pharmacy and health care businesses. New CEO Tim Wentworth said in a statement that company …

Column: How Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid tried to take over healthcare — and failed
1 year, 1 month ago

Column: How Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid tried to take over healthcare — and failed

LA Times  

Think this will be your new healthcare provider? issued an alarming report listing CVS and Walgreens among companies that had grabbed market share in “primary care, concierge medicine, virtual care, in-home medical services and elsewhere.” It seemed that this trend might continue, as the pharmacy chains exploited their networks of stores on virtually every American corner. “We don’t see the …

CVS, Walgreens are locking up more products behind plexiglass, but that won't stop pharmacy chains' broader decline.
2 years, 1 month ago

CVS, Walgreens are locking up more products behind plexiglass, but that won't stop pharmacy chains' broader decline.

Slate  

In September, on an earnings call with investors, Rite Aid’s executive vice president of retail, Andre Persaud, floated an idea to improve the chain’s performance in New York City: turn the drugstore into one giant vending machine in order to fight shoplifting. Then came post-pandemic closures this year, and CVS’ announcement that it would shutter 900 stores over the next …

Walgreens push into comprehensive care picks up momentum
2 years, 1 month ago

Walgreens push into comprehensive care picks up momentum

Associated Press  

Walgreens extended its push into more comprehensive health care with its VillageMD unit acquiring another urgent and primary care chain, Summit Health-CityMD, in a deal worth close to $9 billion. The deal to combine VillageMD and CityMD arrives just two months after CVS Health said it would pay about $8 billion to acquire Signify Health, a technology company that sends …

Walgreens to buy remainder of Shields Health for $1.4B
2 years, 3 months ago

Walgreens to buy remainder of Shields Health for $1.4B

Associated Press  

Walgreens is spending nearly $1.4 billion to buy the remaining stake in Shields Health Solutions it doesn’t already own as it pushes into the fast-growing specialty pharmacy business. The 10-year-old company helps health systems set up and run specialty pharmacies, which manage medications for people with complex and chronic medical conditions. The company, with about 13,000 locations worldwide, has moved …

Walgreens earnings slide as number of vaccinations wane
2 years, 5 months ago

Walgreens earnings slide as number of vaccinations wane

Associated Press  

A big opioid settlement and a COVID-19 vaccine slowdown dragged on third-quarter earnings for Walgreens, but the drugstore chain still topped expectations. Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer told analysts in January that the company would explore strategic options for that business so it could focus more on U.S. health care. Brewer said then that Walgreens was creating an entity “that does …

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