PREVIEW

Walgreens Plans ‘Significant’ Store Closures. On June 27, Walgreens announced quarterly earnings that were poorer than expected, NBC News reports. The company's stock fell 15% in pre-market trading. CEO Tim Wentworth issued a press release. "We continue to face a difficult operating environment, including persistent pressures on the U.S. consumer and the impact of recent marketplace dynamics which have eroded pharmacy margins." "Our results and outlook reflect these headwinds." Tim Wentworth, Walgreens CEO, via press release. Wentworth elaborated in an interview with CNBC. "The consumer is absolutely stunned by the absolute prices of things, and the fact that some of them may not be inflating doesn’t actually change their resistance to the current pricing." Tim Wentworth, Walgreens CEO, via CNBC. On a call with analysts, Wentworth said that Walgreens' strategy will have to "include the closure of a significant portion of these underperforming stores.". "75% of our stores drive 100% of our profitability today. What that means is the others we take a hard look at, we are going to finalize a number that we will close." Tim Wentworth, Walgreens CEO, via call with analysts. The pharmacy chain currently operates about 8,600 stores. THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT