Walgreens, With Stores In Cherry Hill , To Close 200 Stores

CHERRY HILL, NJ — A pharmacy with two locations in Cherry Hill has announced it is shutting down 200 stores nationwide. Walgreens has not yet announced which stores it is shutting down, but said the move is part of a multi-year effort to cut $1.5 billion annually. It has a total of 158 locations in New Jersey.

In Cherry Hill, Walgreens has the following locations:

• 1819 Route 70; and
• 504 Kings Highway north.

The closures are due to begin in the fall, according to Molly Sheehan, Walgreens' senior manager of corporate media relations. In a statement, she said the company expected to be able to retain the majority of employees of the shuttered stores at other locations.

During an earnings call in May, the company announced it planned to close about 200 stores in the United Kingdom and review its real estate holdings in the United States. Its decision to close 200 U.S. stores followed that review, according to the SEC filing, which estimated its "Transformational Cost Management Program" would result in a cost of between $1.9 billion and $2.4 billion in pre-tax adjustments to its financial results.

In June, Walgreens Boots Alliance reported its quarterly net income was down by nearly a quarter. In the first nine months of the fiscal year, the company's net earnings fell by nearly 6 percent compared with a year earlier, with operating income down almost 16 percent. Walgreens, which operates more than 18,000 stores globally, has previously announced plans to close 750 of the 1,932 Rite Aid stores it purchased for $4 billion. Its stock has fallen about 24 percent since the start of its fiscal year last September.

See related: Store Closings, More Than 1,600 Layoffs In NJ Coming Soon

With reporting by Jonah Meadows, Patch Staff