Little by little San Fran and the Bay Area are collapsing. Families and businesses are fleeing. Here is more evidence of the spiraling DOOM LOOP.
“Walgreens announced on Thursday that two stores in Oakland and one in Richmond would be closing as a result of economic issues, increasing the total number of Bay Area Walgreens closures to over two dozen in only the last several years.
Since 2019, Walgreens and the Bay Area have been constantly at odds, with the retail pharmacy chain closing more and more. Between 2019 and early 2021, Walgreens closed 17 stores in total. While excuses varied from economic to performance issues, employees at the locations had said that high crime and shoplifting were the major reasons. When an additional 5 closed in October 2021, Walgreens finally admitted that the closures were due to ongoing retail crime. San Francisco officials, such as Mayor London Breed, nonetheless continued to deny the closures were because of crime despite Walgreens themselves saying that that was the case.
Hotels and restaurants have closed. Other drug stores have closed. San Fran and Oakland have massive city deficits and their schools are losing enrollment. The Bay Area is a Third World area.
Walgreens Announces Another 3 Walgreens Stores To Close Across the Bay Area
Over two dozen Walgreens have now closed in the Bay Area since 2019
By Evan Symon, California Globe, 12/6/24 https://californiaglobe.com/fr/walgreens-announces-another-3-walgreens-stores-to-close-across-the-bay-area/
Walgreens announced on Thursday that two stores in Oakland and one in Richmond would be closing as a result of economic issues, increasing the total number of Bay Area Walgreens closures to over two dozen in only the last several years.
Since 2019, Walgreens and the Bay Area have been constantly at odds, with the retail pharmacy chain closing more and more. Between 2019 and early 2021, Walgreens closed 17 stores in total. While excuses varied from economic to performance issues, employees at the locations had said that high crime and shoplifting were the major reasons. When an additional 5 closed in October 2021, Walgreens finally admitted that the closures were due to ongoing retail crime. San Francisco officials, such as Mayor London Breed, nonetheless continued to deny the closures were because of crime despite Walgreens themselves saying that that was the case.
In 2023, Walgreens faced another few negative high profile incidents in the area. In March of last year, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state would no longer do business with Walgreens following the company decision to no longer sell the abortion pill in 20 states after attorney generals from those states threatened legal action. Newsom even began ending state contracts until the next month when the state Department of Health Care Services found that Newsom’s actions violated federal law. The policies were reversed, but left a negative stain between the state and the company.
The same month, the shooting of a criminal shoplifter by a security guard at a San Francisco Walgreens made national headlines. Protests against the company in the Bay Area as a result of that only further strained the relationship between the Bay Area and the retailer. California and San Francisco even sided with Walgreens earlier this year in not charging the security guard with any crime, but even that gesture didn’t completely mend things.
Three closures in the East Bay
This led to Friday, when it was announced that 3 stores in Oakland and Richmond would be closing as part of a broader nationwide mass closing of stores. While the Bay Area wasn’t the only area hit by closures, with 2 closing in Sacramento as well, it did show that the Bay Area still had some of the most vulnerable stores in the chain. Officially, the closures were made in an effort to improve earnings and control operating costs, with lower performing stores being targeted, including the three in Oakland.
Further statements zeroed in on the economic issues, with a statement on Friday by Walgreens explaining:
“Our retail pharmacy business is central to our go-forward business strategy. However, increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures are weighing on our ability to cover the costs associated with rent, staffing, and supply needs.
“It is never an easy decision to close a store. We know that our stores are important to the communities that we serve, and therefore do everything possible to improve the store performance. When closures are necessary, like those in the Bay Area, we will work in partnership with community stakeholders to minimize customer disruptions.”
However, many were not surprised by more Bay Area closures.
“They are leaning heavy on economic factors, like rent and regulations,” added Pearl Fawcett, a retail store analyst, to the Globe on Friday. “Pharmacies in particular are being hurt a lot right now. Not just Walgreens, but others like CVS too. Drug reimbursement rates are going down, shoppers are changing where they get prescriptions from, there are too many stores in an area, and, in places like Oakland, high crime. When they start locking up the razors and baby formula and Tide, you know theft is an issue.
“The three in the East Bay are following those patterns. And like you pointed out, this is just reducing their presence there more and more. No one wants to admit the problems are that big, but, well, here we are.”
The stores are scheduled to officially close next month, leaving Oakland with only 6 remaining Walgreens, while Richmond, a city of over 100,000 people, will have none. More locations set for closure are also expected to be announced soon.
