The Walgreens at 1 Yorktown Plaza in Elkins Park will be closing as part of the pharmacy store chain’s planned shutdowns for underperforming branches across the country, MSN.com reported.

While no exact timeline has been given, CEO Tim Wentworth indicated that the wave of closures is due to ongoing challenges with profitability and declining margins.

“We continue to face a difficult operating environment, including persistent pressures on the U.S. consumer and the impact of recent marketplace dynamics which have eroded pharmacy margins,” Wentworth said. “Our results and outlook reflect these headwinds.”

FOX Business noted that CVS and Rite Aid have also announced similar mass shutdowns in the recent past as a response to the rise in online pharmacies and alternatives such as Amazon Pharmacy, GoodRx or Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus, particularly since the pandemic.

In greater Glenside, CVS Health closed its Wyncote branch at 45 Cheltenham Avenue in 2022, the Rite Aid in the Abington Shopping Center at 1441 Old York Road closed its doors in September 2023, and the Rite Aid at 1650 Limeklin Pike in the Dreshertown Plaza closed four months later.

“Whereas once virtual care wasn’t common, suddenly online was the only option and with that adoption of virtual care there was a greater recognition that online pharmacy was also a viable route,” Jonathan Palmer, senior health care analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said. “Everyday there are more patients who have only lived in a world where online shopping was the norm and that slow demographic shift is also a contributor.” 

Walgreens has roughly 8,600 stores in the United States. A full list of closures is available here.

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Photo: Showcase.com