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Corporate confirms the closing of Craig’s Walgreens

On Monday, Oct. 10, Walgreens corporate representatives confirmed its Craig location, which has a staff of 16, will close on Nov. 16. 

“We have made the difficult decision to close this location,” Walgreens Senior Director of External Relations Fraser Engerman said in a statement. “There are a number of factors that we take into consideration including dynamics of the local market and changing buying habits of our customers.”  

Engerman did not provide specific reasons for Craig’s store closure. However, there are nationwide trends affecting retail pharmacy chains.



In 2019, CNBC reported Walgreens planned to close 200 U.S. store locations and save approximately $1.5 billion in annual expenses by 2022. 

At the time, the corporation did not specify which locations would be affected, but the target number of store closures is about 3% of the corporation’s national footprint. 



According to CNBC coverage, the 2019 announcement of closures is not the first mass reduction of the Walgreens brand. Another 200 stores were closed in 2015, and Walgreens parent company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, also acquired Rite Aid in 2018 and has since closed 631 locations with plans to close over a hundred more locations. 

Additionally, in November 2021, CVS Health announced it would be closing 900 drugstore locations nationwide by 2024 to focus more on digital sales growth as consumers continue to flock to online shopping, and away from brick and mortar retail locations.

Locally, the Steamboat Walgreens should not be affected by the closure of the Craig store. But Engerman said that once the Craig store is closed in November, remaining inventory will be transferred to other stores.

“As we move forward on our strategy to expand Walgreens role as a leader in the delivery of health care, we are focused on creating the right network of stores in the right locations to best meet the needs of the communities we serve,” Engerman’s statement said.

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