New York City is experiencing a dramatic decline in the number of drugstores, with nearly 10% closing this year alone. The Center for an Urban Future report attributes the closures to a decade-long trend driven by rampant shoplifting. Major chains like Walgreens, Duane Reade, CVS, and Rite Aid have all seen significant reductions in their store counts. The report highlights the impact of increased security measures, including locked merchandise and limited staffing, which may be deterring customers.
Nearly 10% of New York City’s drugstores have closed this year — a dramatic drop following a decade of retreats that has slashed their number by 40% as shoplifting continues to run rampant, according an explosive study. The number of Walgreens, Duane Reade, CVS and Rite Aid stores across the city shrunk to 395 locations in 2024.
That’s versus 435 last year, and down sharply from a peak of 656 in 2014, according to The Center for an Urban Future’s annual report titled The worst-hit pharmacy chain was was the biggest in the city — Walgreens Boots Alliance — which owns Duane Reade. It closed 22 stores in the Big Apple – leaving it with just 189 locations, according to the report. CVS, meanwhile, shuttered 10 stores leaving 160 locations. Rite Aid, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year, closed eight stores this year and now operates just 46 in the city.Among the casualties were two massive Duane Reade locations this spring — one at 4 Times Square and the other at the corner of Broadway and West 50th Street. That’s after the 16,200-square-foot Walgreens flagship store at One Times Square shuttered in 2022 after weathering the depths of the pandemic. Employee allegedly stabs company boss in middle of meeting in possible 'copycat' crime in wake of UnitedHealthcare CEO killingForeign tech workers on visas warned to return to US before Trump takes office Also in 2022, a Rite Aid at Eighth Avenue and West 50th Street shuttered. It’s now being redeveloped as a smaller-format Whole Foods store.but also drugstores’ stepped-up security measures — most notably locking merchandise behind plexiglass, forcing customers to call and wait for store clerks for everything from shampoo to painkillers. “There is no doubt that locking up products, moving to automated check out and having fewer people working in these stores has contributed to fewer people going into their stores,” Jonathan Bowles, executive director of The Center for an Urban Future, told The Pos
DRUGSTORES SHOPLIFTING NYC BUSINESS CLOSURES SECURITY
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