Walgreens has admitted that locking up products within its stores has affected its sales.
During a recent earnings call, Timothy Wentworth, the CEO of Walgreens’ parent company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, detailed how anti-theft measures such as securing products in plastic cases or utilizing security tags impacted the chain’s annual earnings.
“When you lock things up … you don’t sell as many of them,” Wentworth said, adding: “We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively.”
During the first quarter of the 2025 fiscal year, Walgreens Boots Alliance said they saw an operating loss of $245 million.
Previously, the company saw a $39 million loss in the same quarter a year ago.
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During the earnings call, Wentworth also said that Walgreens is looking for “creative” solutions to address “shrink”— the loss of inventory caused by reasons other than sales.
He remained vague on what Walgreens plans to do exactly, though, stating, “I don’t have anything magnificent to share with you today.”
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Walgreens plans to close hundreds of stores by the end of 2025, according to Wentworth. The company has already closed around 2,000 locations over the past decade.
“We have a lot of experience with store closures,” the CEO explained during the earnings call. “Naturally, we expect our future footprint to support stronger performance.”
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