Nearly 10% of New York City’s drugstores have closed this year, according to an explosive study — a dramatic decline after a decade of retreat that saw their number drop by 40% because of shoplifting. The sequence continues.
The number of Walgreens, Duane Reade, CVS and Rite Aid stores citywide is projected to drop to 395 locations in 2024, according to an annual report by The Center for an Urban Future. That’s up 435 from last year, and down sharply from a peak of 656 in 2014. Topic “Kingdom of Chains,
Walgreens Boots Alliance, which owns Duane Reade, was the worst affected. According to the report, the Big Apple’s biggest chain closed 22 stores – leaving it with 189 locations in the city.
Meanwhile, CVS closed 10 stores, leaving 160 locations. Rite Aid, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year, closed eight stores this year and now operates only 46 stores in the city.
Casualties included two large Duane Reade locations this spring — one at 4 Times Square and the other at the corner of Broadway and West 50th Street. It comes as the 16,200-square-foot Walgreens flagship store at One Times Square is set to close in 2022 after suffering through the depths of the pandemic.
Also in 2022, a Rite Aid at Eighth Avenue and West 50th Street was closed. It is now being redeveloped as a small-format Whole Foods store.
Experts blame not only Crime But drug stores have also stepped up security measures — notably locking merchandise behind plexiglass, forcing customers to call and wait for store clerks to order everything from shampoo to painkillers. .
To avoid hassles, shoppers are skipping drugstores altogether and buying more essentials online.
Jonathan Bowles, executive director of The Center for an Urban Future, told The Post, “There’s no doubt that locking up products, moving toward automated check-out, and having fewer people working in these stores will result in fewer customers in their stores. People are leaving.” ,
“More New Yorkers can buy this merchandise online, but when they go to these stores there are fewer people working there and the merchandise is discontinued.”
More closures are likely. CVS, with 9,000 stores nationwide, announced in 2021 that it would close 900 stores over several years.
Asked about the recent shuttering, a CVS spokesperson told The Post, “Decisions are not based solely on shoplifting or crime.”
“Many factors are considered when closing a store, including population changes, consumer purchasing patterns, store and pharmacy density, pharmacy care access and community health needs,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Rite Aid said, “Like many in the industry, we are seeing high levels of brazen shoplifting and organized retail crime. We are taking an active role in helping law enforcement apprehend shoplifters, as well as continuing our efforts to educate community leaders about the impact of retail theft and advocate for solutions.
In fact, according to Bowles, the exodus from drugstores is wreaking havoc on the streets of the Big Apple.
“Graffiti has been painted on vacant store buildings or homeless people who have decided to sleep [by the entrance] Because there are no active stores, it’s not a healthy thing for our retail landscape, Bowles said.
Walgreens Boots Alliance said in October that it is Plans to close 500 stores in 2025 and 1,200 overall In the next three years.
The Chicago-based pharmacy chain, which has about 8,700 locations nationwide, said one in four of its stores is unprofitable and it is looking to “improve the in-store experience of its customers.”
A representative for Walgreens told The Post that the closing is due to “regulatory and reimbursement pressures” that are “impacting our ability to cover costs associated with rent, staffing and supply needs.”
The company has not directly linked its store closures to crime, but executives said on an earnings call that “shrinking” — which in corporate parlance means theft — “represents a serious systemic problem in the retail industry. “
Big Apple drugstores have been particularly badly affected The crime wave intensified with the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
Bowles said closed drugstores are “a big part of the vacancy rate in New York City” because there is less demand for the large spaces they typically occupy. On a scale, the empty drugstore space totals one million square feet, according to the New York Times. report in August.
“A few years ago, I thought we had too many drugstores on almost every block,” said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes development in the district. “But whenever a pendulum swings too far in one direction it goes back.”
