"Walgreens Is Closing Stores Everywhere... And What's Left Is Locked Up"

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Epic Economist, 9/14/26

"Walgreens Is Closing Stores Everywhere... 

And What's Left Is Locked Up"

"Walgreens is closing stores, and the ones still open are locked up. Walgreens plans to close about 1,200 locations, and inside the stores that remain, shoppers press a help button and wait while a speaker pages the whole store so someone can unlock a stick of deodorant. These are real Walgreens shoppers, pharmacy customers and employees, filmed on their own phones: a 30-minute drive-thru wait for a mother's post-surgery medication, a canceled prescription and another trip across town, a pharmacy manager doing two jobs without a raise, a 13-year employee watching even the drink cooler get locked, and a Chicago Walgreens with empty shelves and the same thief coming back until the store is on the edge of closing. 

A pharmacy is not just a store. For millions of people it is the only place nearby where a medical professional will talk to them without an appointment. When the last pharmacy in a neighborhood closes, the prescriptions don't disappear. They move to a counter farther away, staffed by one pharmacist now serving two towns, and that lands hardest on the elderly, the disabled and anyone without a car. What this video covers: • The help button that pages the entire store for one locked-up item • Makeup, shampoo, toothbrushes and baby formula behind glass • Baskets stolen and half the store locked up • A 30-minute drive-thru line for post-surgery meds • Canceled prescriptions, a broken app and hour-long pharmacy hold lines • A pharmacy manager doing two jobs, and paid holidays cut for workers • An employee stepping in when a shoplifter threatens a pregnant coworker • Walgreens stores in Chicago shutting down over theft.

Every clip is a real person, filmed on their own phone, in their own words. Nothing here is staged. Two things that actually help. If your Walgreens is closing, ask the pharmacist today to transfer your prescriptions to a pharmacy you choose, before they get moved to one you didn't. If you rely on a refill every month, ask for a 90-day supply, so one closed counter or one canceled order doesn't leave you without your medication. Is your local Walgreens closing, or is everything behind glass now? Tell us the city below."

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