The pharmacy trade has confronted extreme monetary misery during the last two years, which has led a number of drugstore chains to shut retailer places and, in some circumstances, file for chapter safety.
America’s largest drugstore chains have closed 100s of retailer places during the last 4 years to restructure their companies and scale back labor prices, remove above-market leases, plug leakage from theft, and shut down underperforming shops.
Drugstore chain CVS in 2021 launched an out-of-court restructuring to shut 900 of its almost 9,900 shops to cut back prices and losses, slicing 300 places annually in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
CVS, Walgreens launch restructurings
The corporate expanded its closures in 2025, revealing in its annual report in February that it might shut 271 extra shops this 12 months.
One other pharmacy chain, Walgreens, additionally launched an out-of-court restructuring and evaluated 2,000 of about 8,600 shops for potential closure.
The pharmacy chain recognized 1,200 places to shutter over three years, with 500 set to shut in fiscal 12 months 2025.
Pharmacy chain retailer closings:
- Ceremony Assist, about 2,088, 2023-2025.
- CVS, about 1,171, 2021-2025.
- Walgreens, about 1,200, 2025-2027.
In some circumstances, authorized issues can pressure retail chains to file for chapter safety.
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CVS Well being’s long-term care pharmacy subsidiary Omnicare LLC and 110 associates filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety on Sept. 22, searching for to resolve points associated to a latest $948.7 million U.S. Division of Justice civil judgment towards the corporate.
All litigation towards the debtor is topic to an computerized keep whereas the chapter case proceeds.
The corporate stated that it’ll both implement a standalone restructuring or search a sale of its property.
In different circumstances, the monetary hardship is so extreme, pharmacy chains have been pressured out of enterprise.
Bankrupt pharmacy chain Ceremony Assist is now not working any of its brick-and-mortar shops.
Picture supply: Elconin/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures
Ceremony Assist is now not working any shops
Bankrupt retail chain Ceremony Assist has closed all 1,288 of its remaining shops and transferred all buyer prescriptions to different pharmacies, the corporate revealed on its web site.
“All Rite Aid stores have now closed. We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support,” the corporate wrote on its web site.
Ceremony Assist invited prospects on the web site to “Find Your New Pharmacy.”
Ceremony Assist prescriptions transferred to different drugstores
The long-lasting drugstore chain requested prospects: “Have you been notified that your prescription was transferred to a new pharmacy?”
The web site additionally supplied a course of to retrieve affected person data. Ceremony Assist permits sufferers to request data, corresponding to prescription and immunization historical past, by way of its “Request Records” subject.
Main pharmacies purchased Ceremony Assist prescriptions
- CVS
- Walgreens
- Albertsons
- Kroger
- Large Eagle
Ceremony Assist started promoting its prescription information with the Could 21, 2025, approval to promote information from 625 of its shops in 15 states to CVS. The corporate additionally bought 64 Ceremony Assist shops in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to CVS.
Along with promoting information to CVS, the pharmacy chain gained approval to promote prescription information at different Ceremony Assist places to Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger, Large Eagle, and different pharmacies.
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Ceremony Assist filed for Chapter 11 safety for a second time on Could 5, 2025, U.S. Chapter Courtroom for the District of New Jersey and commenced closing all of its shops, which it estimated on the time to be about 1,240 places.
The variety of closed shops continued rising as the corporate filed notices of extra retailer closing places.
The debtor, which opened its first retailer in 1962, filed for Chapter 11 chapter for the primary time on Oct. 15, 2023, and closed about 800 of its 2,100 shops on the time.
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