Re: Walgreens plans to close 200 stores
Posted: February 24th, 2020, 5:33 am
Coastal cities, generally, have a bigger homeless problem than those inland. My first trip Seattle (c. 1987) was memorable in part because of the sheer numbers of obviously drunk people (mostly white men) on the downtown streets. Even a large inland city like Chicago had nothing like that. And it's easy for people to move up and down a coast---there are various migrant streams that do that on the East Coast, esp. the younger homeless. There are more hidden movements such as the older, marginally housed guys who move among VA hospitals.
As for why these stores are closing--if this is their 7th closure, then they probably have too many stores for the size of the market and what they sell. Retail construction has been outstripping population growth since the 70s. It has to end at some point because its unsustainable and just because property has been retail for many years doesn't make that a good use of the property now. The growth of online retail just makes the oversupply worse, but it's a fundamental problem on its own, anyway.
As for why these stores are closing--if this is their 7th closure, then they probably have too many stores for the size of the market and what they sell. Retail construction has been outstripping population growth since the 70s. It has to end at some point because its unsustainable and just because property has been retail for many years doesn't make that a good use of the property now. The growth of online retail just makes the oversupply worse, but it's a fundamental problem on its own, anyway.