Walgreens to shut 1,200 stores as CEO Wentworth seeks turnaround

[GON]

Article clearly misses the reason Walgreens to shut 1,200 stores.

The reason is simple. Walgreens counted on consumers willing to play Walgreens game of the way it's prices retail products. Many industries have been able to exploit consumers as competition has been reduced, and barriers to entry for new completion.

Walgreens quit providing any value whatsoever to its customers. Super long wait times to get prescriptions filled, and beyond exploitive pricing on the retail products it sold.

Zero reason for anyone to walk into a Walgreens. Unlike other businesses, consumers currently have a choice for prescriptions at retail stores.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walgreens-shutter-1-200-stores-110245637.html

 

[97prizm]

I never thought that Walgreens had exploited pricing. If you mean pricey then sometimes. My big gripe is that their $5 or $10 off coupon you'd get after spending so many dollars had a very short use by date. It was I think 8-10 days tops. They seem to be a unique player as they sometimes carry products that even local grocery stores don't carry.

 

[kschachn]

Zero reason except there is one that's within walking distance of my house, their prices are reasonable, they are friendly, and they accept all my insurance and so forth. I'm not quite as dissatisfied as you. Plus this Walgreens at least doesn't have "super long wait times" for prescriptions. The also have free delivery for mail order prescriptions.

 

[GON]

I never thought that Walgreens had exploited pricing. If you mean pricey then sometimes. My big gripe is that their $5 or $10 off coupon you'd get after spending so many dollars had a very short use by date. It was I think 8-10 days tops. They seem to be a unique player as they sometimes carry products that even local grocery stores don't carry.

Exploitive pricing in $4.99 for a bag of gummy bears, but two bags for $5.98. Walgreens lists the price as $2.99 per bag (with a tiny font saying for two bags) . And, of course Walmart sells the same bad of gummies for $1.49.

 

[buster]

They closed a Rite Aid up the street, so I've been going to CVS the last few years. I find them to all be more alike than different.

 

[ripcord]

Exploitive pricing in $4.99 for a bag of gummy bears, but two bags for $5.98. Walgreens lists the price as $2.99 per bag. And, of course walart sells the same bad of gummies for $1.49.

Maybe a better comparison would be the price for those gummy bears at a convenience store, which is how I think of stores like Walgreens or CVS. Walmart runs at super tight margins and depends on high volumes.

 

[mrsilv04]

In this area, Walgreen's and CVS are both complete rubbish. Walgreen's has stores open at some of the busiest intersections in town, without a pharmacist on duty.. in the middle of the day.

The local hospital has opened up its own pharmacy which is open 6am to midnight, 7 days a week, because neither Walgreens or CVS was competent enough to fill prescriptions in a timely manner (or have the drugs on the shelf... or have a pharmacist in the building to fill it).

Over and over, the hospital would see people in the Emergency Room, and write prescriptions that their patients couldn't get filled until the next day.

 

[GON]

I never thought that Walgreens had exploited pricing. If you mean pricey then sometimes. My big gripe is that their $5 or $10 off coupon you'd get after spending so many dollars had a very short use by date. It was I think 8-10 days tops. They seem to be a unique player as they sometimes carry products that even local grocery stores don't carry.

There is a difference between being pricey and being exploitive in pricing.

The way Walgreens prices are, I no longer ever think to stop in a Walgreens. That is a big loss, as Walgreens has stores all over and count on retail sales to make the stores profitable. I simply not playing their game.

Yesterday I fueled up at a Castle Rock, CO 7 eleven. The station wanted $1.20 more for premium, I passed and purchased regular unleaded. Other stations in the area charging .40 more for premium, so I know the pricing was set for a consumer that didn't care.

I also went into seven eleven for a diet Coke. $2.59 for a 12 oz can of coke. $2.99 for two cans of diet coke. I walked out without making a purchase.

I know many consumers no longer care much about pricing, they just want it now. I don't fall into that category.

 

[97prizm]

Maybe a better comparison would be the price for those gummy bears at a convenience store, which is how I think of stores like Walgreens or CVS. Walmart runs at super tight margins and depends on high volumes.

This. Walgreens is in some ways like a big convenience store. And no it isn't exploitative as I've always been able to see the buy two for the better deal. They aren't the only store in town.

 

[GON]

They aren't the only store in town.

Exactly, and that is why Walgreens is shutting down 1200 stores.

 

[Tdbo]

Exploitive pricing in $4.99 for a bag of gummy bears, but two bags for $5.98. Walgreens lists the price as $2.99 per bag (with a tiny font saying for two bags) . And, of course Walmart sells the same bad of gummies for $1.49.

More like exploiting pricing in a way that is over the top. Here is a real life example:
Doc wanted me on an OTC Iron supplement, due to it being low the last time I went in for blood work.
Went to Walgreens because it was the closest to where I was at the time.
100 of their own brand of the tablet was $17.98; although, in all fairness, they would knock 40% off the second if I desired a double Ben Dover in the same transaction.
So, I went to the second closest stop which was WM. 200 of the same tablet (in the store brand) was $4.88.
So, no doubt as to why they are shutting a bunch of stores. Their business model and other "Positions" are finally catching up with them.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Walmart and others have used pharmacy as loss leader to get customers to come in. It’s really predatory but it benefits customers. There would be no $4 scripts otherwise.

There are as many Walmarts as Walgreens just about.

Business models evolve.

 

[Leo99]

I had a Rx issue and Walgreen's refuses to compensate me about $16 that they owe me due to their incompetence. Plus their pharmacy had long lines, horrible hours, and general lack of customer care.

 

[AutoMechanic]

No matter what time of day I go to Walgreens they are dead. I went there last night to get a bubble mailer and we were the only ones in the store. Hate to see retailers go but I won’t buy anything there because they are so high.

 

[GON]

Walmart and others have used pharmacy as loss leader to get customers to come in. It’s really predatory but it benefits customers. There would be no $4 scripts otherwise.

There are as many Walmarts as Walgreens just about.

Business models evolve.

And Walmart has yet to adopt the model of buy a product for $4.99, buy two for 5.49 ($2.75 each). This Walmart model of not playing this game has turned me into a loyal Walmart shopper.

I was in King Soopers this morning for a bag of ice and some donuts for the grandsons. King Soopers playing a like game of pricing as Walgreens, but add in electric coupons. I needed other things like bagged coffee, but passed after I had to install king Soopers app to get the "favorable" price on the coffee. Looking at the customers in king Soopers, seemed primarily to be senior citizens, that may not be so savvy with the electric coupons and such. What happens as these senior citizens pass away, who will replace them for king Soopers to exploit? I am very confident 30 years ago King Soopers didn't play these pricing games, and that is why the senior citizens are in King Soopers today, they were middle aged customers 30 years ago.

 

[SC Maintenance]

And Walmart has yet to adopt the model of buy a product for $4.99, buy two for 5.49 ($2.75 each). This Walmart model of not playing this game has turned me into a loyal Walmart shopper.

I was in King Soopers this morning for a bag of ice and some donuts for the grandsons. King Soopers playing a like game of pricing as Walgreens, but add in electric coupons. I needed other things like bagged coffee, but passed after I had to install king Soopers app to get the "favorable" price on the coffee. Looking at the customers in king Soopers, seemed primarily to be senior citizens, that may not be so savvy with the electric coupons and such. What happens as these senior citizens pass away, who will replace them for king Soopers to exploit? I am very confident 30 years ago King Soopers didn't play these pricing games, and that is why the senior citizens are in King Soopers today, they were middle aged customers 30 years ago.

Likely correct.

But 30 years ago you likely had a home town locally owned pharmacy that Walgreens replaced. Amazon does scripts now. In 50 years a drone maybe delivers your script and there are no local pharmacy’s ?

 

[svtrit]

My son is in Pharmacy school and says Walgreens is a terrible, terrible company that mistreats it's Pharmacists. It's second to CVS....

Our Walgreens is busy and always seemed like a good place, but the pharmacy staff has completely changed in the past 2 years. We do mail order now, or, Walmart pharmacy.

 

[Al]

Again possibly non prosecution of shoplifting.

 

[mrsilv04]

Could it also be that Walgreens stores in Chicago and Los Angeles and Seattle have been looted, robbed, and shoplifted from... over and over and over again?

It's a guarantee that nearly all of those "unprofitable" stores will also be included in this list of 1200 stores. Buh bye.

 

[PF52]

I've found various random stuff priced really high at Walgreens, like for example a single Duracell 9V battery for $12. I bought it anyway, grumbling to myself that maybe that's just what they cost nowadays. Then on a whim I was at 7-11 a few days later and I noticed their Duracell 9Vs were only like $7. This was about five or more years ago, so I have no idea what they cost now.

I don't like how they stock their stores in the most random way possible. I can wander the store for a half hour looking for, say, eye drops. Then I find them in-between the charcoal starter and the shoelaces. Perfectly logical, right?

My final complaint is about their pharmacy. Often, they won't let me get a refill because their computer tells them it hasn't been 30 days (or 90 days or whatever) since the last time I got a refill. One time, they emailed me that a refill was ready, but when I went to the store to get it, they got out the bag and then promptly put it back in the drawer and told me I need to come back in two days to get it. So I went back in two days and it was nowhere to be found. This was despite me seeing it with my own eyes. They told me I need to contact my doctor! It took another week before I could get that one refilled.