Money

CNN - Walgreens said Thursday that it plans to close a “significant” number of its roughly 8,600 stores in the United States. Around 25% of Walgreens’ stores aren’t profitable, and the chain will look to close stores that are right by one another or struggling to hold down theft, CEO Tim Wentworth said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.Walgreens and other retailers have been hit by shoplifting and resorted to locking up items or closing high-theft stores since the pandemic, but Walgreens’ problems are much deeper, including competition and failed growth strategies. Walgreens admitted last year it “cried too much” over the business impact of shoplifting.The latest closures are part of a larger downturn, not just for Walgreens, but for other drug store chains, too, after years of expansion. Walgreens said in 2019 it would close 200 stores and last year announced an additional 150 store closures. “We are at a point where the current pharmacy model is not sustainable,” Wentworth said. CVS, the largest US chain, closed 244 stores between 2018 and 2020. In 2021, it announced plans to close 900 stores. And Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy last year and will close up to 500 stores.

Axios - One-third of millennials, and over 60% of Gen Z consumers, say they rely on their parents for at least some financial support. Boomers and Gen Xers who feel financially squeezed are more likely to blame higher prices of basic goods. Younger consumers more often blame their own choices.'Increasingly, there are memes like 'retail therapy' or 'little treat culture' equating mental health with impulse spending," says John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll.