A Massive Essential Retailer Is Now Closing 160 Locations

April 1, 2024

A massive essential retailer is now closing 160 locations to accelerate profitability, including recent rightsizing of their cost structure.

Walgreens announced that it will be closing several of its majority-owned Village MD, which operates in tandem with the pharmacy and offers both virtual and in-person primary care support.

Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth told analysts that it’s working with Village MD to take “actions to accelerate profitability, including recent rightsizing of their cost structure, optimizing their clinic footprint, and growing patient panels,” during the Q2 2024 earnings call on Thursday.

He added that this will mean consolidation of some under performing locations.

“As Village prioritizes density in their highest opportunity markets, they decided in January to exit a total of approximately 160 clinics, inclusive of the 60 that had been previously communicated. As of today, they have already exited 140 locations,” Wentworth continued.

While Walgreens maintains Village MD is working to put the service right-side-up, it’s not yet seeing a turn of profit that it may have originally anticipated.

“GAAP net loss for the second quarter included a $5.8 billion noncash impairment charge related to VillageMD goodwill,” CFO Manmohan Mahajan said on the earnings call, adding, “In February, we received a downward revised longer-term forecast from VillageMD management.”

Still, Mahajan doesn’t foresee the charges as having an significant impact on our financial position or our ability to invest across businesses going forward,” adding that, “During the first half of fiscal ‘24, we have seen positive financial impacts from the recent actions taken by VillageMD management team to accelerate profitability.“

Village MD operates approximately 600 locations, with Walgreens operating about 200 full-sized locations alongside its pharmacy.

It owns about 60% of Village MD, perTheStreet.

For more news and updates like this, opt-in for push notifications.

Also Read: A Home Improvement Retailer Now Closes All 157 Stores

Other Economy News Today

A beloved restaurant with 100 locations now begins to shutter as it suddenly marches toward ‘extinction’, sources report.

Friendly’s, a restaurant chain known for its diner-style cuisine and ice cream, is closing one of its locations in Ronkonkoma, Long Island.

Founded in 1935 by brothers Curtis and S. Prestly Blake in Springfield, Massachusetts, Friendly’s started as an ice cream shop with double-dipped cones for just five cents.

Now the chain has spread to other states on the East Coast, however, in recent years, it’s had difficulty keeping locations open in Long Island, New York.

“Friendly’s restaurants, once a mainstay chain on Long Island, have slowly been marching toward extinction,” reported Newsday.

Just last year, a location in Miller Place closed, making it one of several locations that have closed from Levittown to Middle Island.

Following the closure in Ronkonkoma, there are just 10 Friendly’s locations across Nassau and Suffolk:

Massapequa Park
East Meadow
Coram
Commack
East Islip
Sayville
Shirley
Stoney Brook
Medford
Riverhead

The news of the closure sent shockwaves throughout the community as several residents shared their reactions on social media.

“Nooooooo…one of my favorite hangouts in high school,” wrote one person on Facebook.

“So sad…remember many memorable family trips to Friendly’s in Port Jefferson,” wrote another person.

“They were good days. Sorry to see them close.”

“It made me super sad seeing all the closed down Friendly’s locations across Long Island,” wrote a third person.

“I had so many good memories and meals there with family that’s not alive anymore.”

In November 2020, Friendly’s announced that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In January 2021, Friendly’s was acquired by Amici Partners Group, LLC, a group of experienced restaurant investors and operations.

Amici has acquired 130 corporate-owned and franchised restaurant locations and has said it plans to keep all locations open but this doesn’t seem the case with Friendly’s, reports The-Sun.

For more news and updates like this, opt-in for push notifications.

Also Read: A Giant Company Now Announces Unexpected Layoffs in Maryland

Market News Published Daily 📰

Don’t forget to opt-in for push notifications so you don’t miss a single article!

Also, thank you to all of our blog sponsors.

This year we’ve been able to increase push notifications slots making it more convenient than ever for new readers to receive their daily market news and updates.

Scroll below to view my stock purchases this month!

You can also follow me on X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn for daily news and updates on your favorite stories.

More Market News 📰