US-based popular drugstore and prescription medication chain, CVS, has announced the closing of several stores across the US, starting August 2022.
According to several news outlets, the drugstore chain will close at least five locations during August and September 2022, with many others in store for the upcoming months.
Citing struggles with retaining employees and lockdowns imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, CVS is looking towards a different customer approach, willing to improve its digital ecommerce platform as opposed to continue investing in brick-and-mortar stores.
However, the popular drugstore chain isn’t the only one confronting with economic difficulties amid over two years of pandemic, global turmoil, and inflation rate surges. Over the past couple of years, both large and small companies across the country were forced to shut down operations temporarily or definitively in several physical stores. For instance, retail store Walmart started closing over 5,000 locations country-wide in May 2022, impacting thousands of workers and communities.
Other popular brands like Kroger and Olympia Sports reported difficulties too. Kroger is set to close at least two of its locations, in Arkansas and Texas, while Olympia Sports will shut down operations completely, getting rid of all its retail stores before the end of 2022.
CVS reported that employees from soon-to-be-shuttered stores are offered comparable roles at other CVS locations in an attempt to retain employees, while drug prescriptions for clients will be transferred to nearby pharmacies to ensure an uninterrupted access to healthcare.
Explaining the decision to shut down several locations, company officials mentioned they take into account a series of factors, including local market dynamics, population shifts, community stores density, and an extended geographical coverage for drugstores to meet the needs of the community.
The new round of store closing follows a similar path that CVS started at the beginning of 2022, after announcing, back in November 2021, that it would be implementing a new retail footprint strategy in alignment with the constantly evolving consumers’ needs. According to the strategy, around 900 CVS stores will be shut down until 2025, with around 300 giving their last breath in 2022.
The company also aims to invest more in financial technologies and come up with flexible methods of payments, as well as a wide array of check-out options, enhanced pick-up-in-store orders, and other features to boost their ecommerce sales and contribute to the brand’s digitalisation.
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