Business & Tech

CVS Closing Hundreds Of Stores: Will IL Locations Survive?

So far, the company has not said which CVS locations will close. There are CVS stores in more than 200 Illinois towns.

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Shannon Antinori, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge
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CVS has locations in more than 200 Illinois cities. The chain has not yet said which locations will close starting next year.
CVS has locations in more than 200 Illinois cities. The chain has not yet said which locations will close starting next year. (Scott Anderson/Patch)

ILLINOIS — CVS Health will close 900 stores over the next three years, beginning in the spring of 2022 in response to changes in shopping habits, population shifts and changing healthcare needs. The closings will take place over the next three years, according to the company.

The Rhode Island-based company did not say which stores it would close or which states would be most affected by the closures.

The company also didn't say how many workers would lose their jobs. CVS has about 10,104 stores and 300,000 workers in the U.S., including stores in more than 200 cities in Illinois. Some cities have multiple CVS locations.

Find out what's happening in Chicagofor free with the latest updates from Patch.

In a statement, CVS said it is "committed" to helping workers at the stores it closes find other jobs in the company but did not offer any specific details.

As part of the consolidation, CVS said it will add primary care offices at certain sites. It will also convert more of the remaining locations into what it calls health hubs, where customers can get services like diagnostic tests, mental-health services and hearing exams.

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"We remain focused on the competitive advantage provided by our presence in thousands of communities across the country, which complements our rapidly expanding digital presence," CVS President and CEO Karen S. Lynch said in a statement.

The move is a reversal of CVS Health's strategy in recent years. Since 2018, CVS has added 200 stores in the U.S. while its chief rival, Illinois- based Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., announced the closing of nearly 600 retail pharmacies in 2017 and 200 closings in 2019. Both companies have played a crucial role in the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines. About one in three Americans vaccinated against the coronavirus got their shot at a pharmacy.

The announcement came on the same day CVS named Prem Shah its chief pharmacy officer, a newly-created position. Shah, 41, and Michelle Peluso, 50, will become co-presidents of CVS Health's retail business.

Meanwhile, Illinois-based competitor Walgreens recently announced it is raising its starting minimum wage for its more than 25,000 employees to $15 per hour, a change that's expected to be fully implemented by November 2022. The Deerfield-based chain has more than 9,000 stores nationwide.

Here's a list of Illinois CVS locations:

Dave Copeland, Patch Staff, contributed to this article

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