Californians will have 31 fewer places to shop this year, as Walgreens announced plans to close 12 stores in San Francisco, Kohl’s unveiled a plan to close 10 locations in California, and Macy’s announced that it is shuttering nine stores in this state.
A Walgreens spokesperson told The San Francisco Standard the closures are due to costs from “increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures” that hamper the company’s ability to pay for rent, staffing, and supply needs.
“While Walgreens did not say crime was a reason for the store closures, some of the locations slated to shutter in February have been plagued by shoplifting in recent years,” The Standard noted in a January 8 story. “The store at 5280 Geary had the highest theft rate of any Walgreens location the country, CNN reported in 2023. More recently, a gang of 12 thieves – seven of whom were minors – stole $84,000 in merchandise from the 1189 Potrero location and other stores in a string of heists.”
Kohl’s CEO Tom Kingsbury said in his closure announcement that the company is taking “difficult but necessary actions to support the health and future of our business for our customers and our teams.”
Macy’s Inc. released a list of 66 “underproductive stores” planned for closure, including the nine in California.
The Sacramento Business Journal reported January 9 that the closures will include a downtown Sacramento store that has been in operation since the 1960s in a company-owned 447,000-square-foot building that spans three stories.
“Closing any store is never easy, but as part of our Bold New Chapter strategy, we are closing underproductive Macy’s stores to allow us to focus our resources and prioritize investments in our go-forward stores, where customers are already responding positively to better product offerings and elevated service,” Macy’s Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tony Spring said in this week’s announcement.