CVS Health plans to shut choose pharmacies inside Target shops early this 12 months, an organization spokesperson stated Thursday, as retail pharmacy chains within the U.S. battle to spice up income.
The closures will start in February and end by the tip of April, the spokesperson stated in an announcement. She added that staff affected by the closures shall be supplied comparable roles inside CVS, and prescriptions shall be transferred to a close-by CVS pharmacy earlier than a location closes.
The spokesperson didn’t disclose what number of shops could be shuttered, however a report from The Wall Street Journal on Thursday stated CVS would shut “dozens” of places.
CVS operates 9,000 pharmacy places nationwide. The firm has a pharmacy in about 1,800 of Target’s 1,956 shops within the U.S., in accordance with a Target spokesperson.
The Target spokesperson declined to touch upon the closures or share plans for the closed CVS places.
The choice to shutter the shops is a part of CVS’ effort to cut back its retail footprint “based on our evaluation of changes in population, consumer buying patterns and future health needs,” the CVS spokesperson stated.
In 2021, CVS stated it might shut about 900 shops, which is about 10% of its U.S. places, between 2022 and 2024, as the corporate pushes to remodel itself from a serious drugstore chain into a big health-care firm.
CVS has deepened that push over the previous 12 months with its almost $8 billion acquisition of health-care supplier Signify Health and $10.6 billion deal to purchase Oak Street Health, which operates major care clinics for seniors.
But the corporate additionally launched a cost-cutting program final 12 months as a part of that costly push into well being care, with plans to put off 5,000 staff.
The closures additionally come after pharmacy workers from CVS and different drugstore chains walked out within the fall to protest what they name harsh working circumstances that put each staff and sufferers in danger. CVS has instructed CNBC that the corporate is partaking with workers to instantly deal with any issues they could have.
— CNBC’s Melissa Repko contributed to this report.
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