CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 10:06 am
I guess it will be over the next 3 years.
Ouch.
It will be interesting to see what stores close.
Ouch.
It will be interesting to see what stores close.
Page 1 of 15
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 10:14 am
Their store density is pretty heavy, especially in urban areas. At one point my city had two literally across the street from each other. With more people getting 90 day supplies on medications, there's not as much reason to even go into a CVS that much (especially given their high prices on groceries).
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 10:25 am
CVS front end is not very good. The prices are very high. The quality of the "Gold Emblem" brand seems to have declined in the past 10 years but there are still some items in that line I like on the snack side or beverage side.
I am a frequent customer of multiple CVS Stores every week and keep rolling various promotions/coupons. There are so many CVS Stores near me, if one store is out of something, I just go from one to the next until I find what I need. The stores have improved in the past couple years on their in-stock levels and conditions, and a few really awful stores have either been closed or rebuilt. All of the stores have at least one self checkout and it works great.
I think CVS needs to move to a model with better pricing and ditch the Extra Bucks/coupon promotion loop they do week after week. I say this as one of the people who goes and rolls the deals and has piles of various items from these promotions, more than I would ever need, and probably more than the donation bins need. Their ads are also too big and the stores have to spend too much time each week putting up/taking down ad tags and do not have the staffing to do this.
Lately the CVS Corporation has significant pressure on the stores to sign people up for the Carepass $5/month subscription. You basically let CVS record your credit card number in the store then pay them $5 a month to get a $10 Extra Buck every month and some other benefits. I have zero interest in this program. The employees are literally desperate to get people signed up for this. One store I was in the other night at 9 PM, the store manager was there working and offering people a $10 force printed Extra Buck on the spot if they would sign up. You would then get another $10 Extra Buck credited to your account as per the terms of the program.
On the pharmacy side with CVS all I see are very long lines that do not seem to move quickly. I am fortunate to not have to use CVS for pharmacy, as some people seem to think they are forced to go there and deal with that.
I am a frequent customer of multiple CVS Stores every week and keep rolling various promotions/coupons. There are so many CVS Stores near me, if one store is out of something, I just go from one to the next until I find what I need. The stores have improved in the past couple years on their in-stock levels and conditions, and a few really awful stores have either been closed or rebuilt. All of the stores have at least one self checkout and it works great.
I think CVS needs to move to a model with better pricing and ditch the Extra Bucks/coupon promotion loop they do week after week. I say this as one of the people who goes and rolls the deals and has piles of various items from these promotions, more than I would ever need, and probably more than the donation bins need. Their ads are also too big and the stores have to spend too much time each week putting up/taking down ad tags and do not have the staffing to do this.
Lately the CVS Corporation has significant pressure on the stores to sign people up for the Carepass $5/month subscription. You basically let CVS record your credit card number in the store then pay them $5 a month to get a $10 Extra Buck every month and some other benefits. I have zero interest in this program. The employees are literally desperate to get people signed up for this. One store I was in the other night at 9 PM, the store manager was there working and offering people a $10 force printed Extra Buck on the spot if they would sign up. You would then get another $10 Extra Buck credited to your account as per the terms of the program.
On the pharmacy side with CVS all I see are very long lines that do not seem to move quickly. I am fortunate to not have to use CVS for pharmacy, as some people seem to think they are forced to go there and deal with that.
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 12:03 pm
Should be a pretty easy task:
There's a CVS at all four corners of a major intersection near me: an ex Sav-On adjacent to an Albertsons, a huge ex-Long's location, a 2000s-era new build location & one inside a Target.
There's a CVS at all four corners of a major intersection near me: an ex Sav-On adjacent to an Albertsons, a huge ex-Long's location, a 2000s-era new build location & one inside a Target.
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 1:21 pm
storewanderer wrote: ↑November 18th, 2021, 10:25 am CVS front end is not very good. The prices are very high. The quality of the "Gold Emblem" brand seems to have declined in the past 10 years but there are still some items in that line I like on the snack side or beverage side.
I am a frequent customer of multiple CVS Stores every week and keep rolling various promotions/coupons. There are so many CVS Stores near me, if one store is out of something, I just go from one to the next until I find what I need. The stores have improved in the past couple years on their in-stock levels and conditions, and a few really awful stores have either been closed or rebuilt. All of the stores have at least one self checkout and it works great.
I think CVS needs to move to a model with better pricing and ditch the Extra Bucks/coupon promotion loop they do week after week. I say this as one of the people who goes and rolls the deals and has piles of various items from these promotions, more than I would ever need, and probably more than the donation bins need. Their ads are also too big and the stores have to spend too much time each week putting up/taking down ad tags and do not have the staffing to do this.
Lately the CVS Corporation has significant pressure on the stores to sign people up for the Carepass $5/month subscription. You basically let CVS record your credit card number in the store then pay them $5 a month to get a $10 Extra Buck every month and some other benefits. I have zero interest in this program. The employees are literally desperate to get people signed up for this. One store I was in the other night at 9 PM, the store manager was there working and offering people a $10 force printed Extra Buck on the spot if they would sign up. You would then get another $10 Extra Buck credited to your account as per the terms of the program.
On the pharmacy side with CVS all I see are very long lines that do not seem to move quickly. I am fortunate to not have to use CVS for pharmacy, as some people seem to think they are forced to go there and deal with that.
So glad I do NOT have to do business with them! Lousy stores and gimmicky sale items with receipts from here to Siberia.
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 1:29 pm
It sounds like a lot but it's roughly 10% of their store count. They easily could close that many in larger metro areas and no one would miss them.
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 3:31 pm
I have to imagine that some of the former Long's stores in California are going to be on the chopping block here, especially in the Bay Area. Paying Bay Area rents for giant stores with a significant chunk of space walled off doesn't seem like a particularly efficient use of money.
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 4:35 pm
Longs owned quite a bit of real estate. This is a great time to monetize that real estate. I haven't seen any "walled off" CVS Stores though. Or even "shelved off" (like some larger Rite Aids). Most of the CVS I go into that are former Longs just are, should we say, very very spacious, with very low shelves, and single facings of products all over.Brian Lutz wrote: ↑November 18th, 2021, 3:31 pm I have to imagine that some of the former Long's stores in California are going to be on the chopping block here, especially in the Bay Area. Paying Bay Area rents for giant stores with a significant chunk of space walled off doesn't seem like a particularly efficient use of money.
CVS could probably shrink the sales floors by 80% and not lose any profit. They are over-SKUed and irrelevant.
Also those long receipts are recyclable. They even print the recycling logo on the receipt now (makes the receipt even longer.......). There is a digital receipt option as well which works until you want to actually, you know, closely review your receipt to ensure the charges were correct. Also digital receipt really turns into a mess if you have an overcharge and need to go do a return. I wish they'd still issue a standard receipt showing items/prices but do 100% digital delivery of the coupons. Walgreens basically does that for the non-Catalina offers, but doesn't issue nearly as many coupons.
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 5:43 pm
Longs Drugs was booming in California when it was open. They had good prices and a huge selection of grocery items and private label items. They sold clothing, garden plants, home decor, toys, fresh food, produce, etc. It was an adventure going there to find new treasures. The stores were staffed with many employees and the lines moved swiftly. Customer service was top of the line. The pharmacy was staffed very well and you got great service.
CVS ruined all that. They got rid of the huge selection of items and cut staff. The lines are long, and there are few employees to help you. The customer counts have probably dropped to only 20 percent of what they were before. This is how you ruin a trusted local drugstore chain. They could close about 50 percent of those former Longs Drugs stores. They do so little business now.
CVS ruined all that. They got rid of the huge selection of items and cut staff. The lines are long, and there are few employees to help you. The customer counts have probably dropped to only 20 percent of what they were before. This is how you ruin a trusted local drugstore chain. They could close about 50 percent of those former Longs Drugs stores. They do so little business now.
Re: CVS to close 900 stores
Posted: November 18th, 2021, 5:54 pm
Same thing in Reno. The Longs were never that busy in Reno, but way busier than they are now. Longs also operated its own slot machines in the Reno Stores. The store plus slot machines made for a very profitable operation in a lower cost market. CVS pulled the slot machines out in the former Longs Stores, but kept some machines in, well at this point, just one of the former Sav-Ons in Sparks since the two Reno former Sav-Ons both got demolished this year (assuming more have them in Las Vegas).Alpha8472 wrote: ↑November 18th, 2021, 5:43 pm Longs Drugs was booming in California when it was open. They had good prices and a huge selection of grocery items and private label items. They sold clothing, garden plants, home decor, toys, fresh food, produce, etc. It was an adventure going there to find new treasures. The stores were staffed with many employees and the lines moved swiftly. Customer service was top of the line. The pharmacy was staffed very well and you got great service.
CVS ruined all that. They got rid of the huge selection of items and cut staff. The lines are line and there are few employees to help you. The customer counts have probably dropped to only 20 percent of what they were before. This is how you ruin a trusted local drugstore chain. They could close about 50 percent of those former Longs Drugs stores. They do so little business now.
I was sort of okay with CVS after they took the Sav-On Stores over. I have become less impressed with them based on how things have gone with Longs but also feel CVS has seriously increased its pricing on consumables over the past decade compared to what it was in 2006. They actually had some decent value consumables back in 2006 like .99 for large rolls of paper towels (comparable to whatever Dollar Tree had), and various really good deals on snacks/candy. CVS back in 2006 was also very quick to clearance seasonal categories and 90% off came fast. That is all long gone. The current CVS reminds me of the worst of Longs (old smelly stores) minus any of the attributes of Longs (easy deals you picked off the shelf and went and paid for without screwing around with coupons/apps and wide selection).