Walgreens closing South Side Chicago store after losing over $1M due to rampant theft

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The pharmacy chain revealed the reasons behind its decision to close the Walgreens at 86th in Cottage Grove in the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago at a town hall in the community on Saturday.

"I'm here today because we're closing the store at 86th and Cottage Grove. But I just want to make sure everyone understands closing stores [is] not our goal. This is the last resort," Walgreens regional Vice President Reginald Johnson said, according to Fox 32 Chicago.

Walgreens executives revealed at the town hall that the location lost over $1 million last year amid softening prescription sales and significant levels of theft, which resulted in the decision to close the store on June 4.

Johnson said that "theft at this store is 16%," which is "four times above the company average," which contributed to losses at the store.

The company said that it took measures to counteract theft at the store, but was unable to put an end to the issues at the location.

"Lock boxes help us protect the merchandise in the store. A lot of the time, those lock boxes were getting destroyed. And that's at a great cost to the company," said Walgreens district manager Jason Vasquez, according to Fox 32's report.

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