Why Walgreens Stores Across Pennsylvania and New Jersey May Close This Week

If you’re a New Jersey or Pennsylvania regular customer of one of the largest pharmacy retail chains in the country, heads up!

Walgreens May Close Stores This Week as Employees Walk Out

Employees at some Walgreens stores across the country are expected to walk out of work early next week, CNN.com reports.

They say that employees at approximately 500 of the company’s 9,000 stores could walk out between Monday (October 9) and Wednesday (October 11).

It’s unclear if any of those stores will include New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but multiple states are expected to be involved.

Why Walgreens Employees May Walk Out

The walkout efforts are related to what employees call harsh working conditions that could put customers at risk, they say.

It’s “in response to what pharmacy employees call burdensome prescription and vaccination expectations levied on pharmacists from corporate management,” according to the CNN.com report.

Employees fall behind as a result and customers are upset. The company reportedly sets a unrealistic high-performance level, but short staffing issues lead to issues for pharmacy technicians and other roles, the report says.

You can read more of CNN.com’s in-depth reporting about the company’s overworked pharmacy employees.

Meanwhile, other retailers across the country are struggling.

Rite Aid to Close Up to 500 Stores Nationwide

Just a few weeks ago we told you that one of the nation’s other large pharmacy retail chains planned to close about 25% of its retail stores nationwide.

They’re reportedly preparing toile for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection soon, The Wall Street Journal reported in late September. 

Rite Aid is a Philadelphia-based company, that is facing more than $3 billion in debt. They’re also facing lawsuits for their role in the nation’s opioid crisis, reports say. That could become quite costly in court.

Some of the company’s investors may call for even more of their stores to close, but no final decisions have been made.