LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — It's been a very tough year for pharmacies. Walgreens announced today that it will close 1,200 stores nationwide over the next three years. The locations have yet to be determined.

Between CVS and Rite Aid, numerous drugstores in the Detroit metropolitan area had to close in 2024.

Walgreens said it currently operates about 8,500 stores, most of them in the United States.

Gary Rys, a Walgreens customer, said: “I know it’s about the economy, right? But then you also lose people’s jobs.”

“I talked to Towanna there and she said, ‘We could lose our job. You know, it could be our store,'” he said.

Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth told the Associated Press that 6,000 stores are profitable, but to cut costs, a large remainder are suffering the same fate as hundreds of CVS and Rite Aid stores.

David Brown, a Walgreens customer, said: “Oversaturation of the market. No wonder. Honestly, supporting your local pharmacist is also the best way.”

Rudy Najm, a local independent pharmacist and owner of iPharmacy in Livonia, said although more people visited his store after Rite Aid closed, there were two main factors that caused all pharmacies to suffer.

First, he said insurance companies are failing to reimburse pharmacies at an appropriate rate. Secondly, he called for “patient steering”. Then, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) determine where patients can go to fill a prescription. He said PBMs work on behalf of insurance companies.

Najm said: “People are worried. They sometimes come to my drugstore (and say, 'Hey, are you closing too?')”

He said he responded by saying, “No, no, we are here to stay, sir. We are here to stay.”

Najm explained: “But that’s basically the mindset (of concerned customers). There is a lot of fear among the population.”

He said the thought is often, “Hey, is my pharmacy going to be around in the next year or two?”

With pharmacy profits stagnating, Najm said it is trying to stay afloat by selling retail products in-store. But he said that's often not enough and he imagines it's the same challenge for big chains like Walgreens.

“They will both be challenged. Retail is challenged by a few things. Theft. A lady just came in yesterday (who said, 'Hey, where's your pregnancy test?') “She just comes, grabs it and walks back out. This is a challenge for retailers,” he explained.

“It's getting worse and worse. There is also the online shopping trend,” he added.

Najm said it would take action from the federal government to stop what was happening to pharmacies.