Major drugstore chain closing 270 stores despite new store plans

It's a difficult time to operate a retail business. 

Even if you're one of the biggest, baddest, toughest and strongest multinational labels, you've probably met your fair share of struggles since the early 2020s. 

Related: Struggling supermarket chain closes more locations

And if you're not one of those aforementioned retailers, you're probably mired in difficulties. 

It's always been difficult to be a retailer, but since 2020, things have gotten more complicated. 

Covid certainly changed things at the onset. Prolonged closures quickly reduced foot traffic to zero. Social distancing became the norm. Suddenly, nobody wanted to dine, drink or shop together. 

After Covid ebbed, interest rates soared. So any businesses that had managed to stay in business through the worst of the Covid closures suddenly found their costs of operation had risen sharply. Growth was more expensive. Debt cost more. And retail had been changed irrevocably.

Retail has been challenged

All in all, the past five years have been challenging for everyone. 

For the local mom-and-pop shops, retail has become downright risky. For all the retailers, including the giants like Walmart and Amazon, it's become more expensive to operate.

And as more key goods and services rise in price, consumers are getting choosier about where, when and how much they spend. 

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February found that the cost of goods and services rose 0.2% on the month. 

The annual rate of inflation was also up 2.8% — slightly less than expected.

Here's a breakdown of several price changes for February:

• Food: increase 0.2%
• Energy: increase 0.2%
• Electricity: increase 1.0%
• New vehicles: decrease 0.1%
• Used vehicles: increase 0.9%
• Apparel: increase 0.6%
• Shelter: increase 0.3%
• Transportation: decrease 0.8%
• Medical care services: increase 0.3%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that according to its indexes, over the month the cost of medical care rose 0.3%, physicians' services were 0.4% higher, hospital services added 0.1%, and prescription-drug costs were unchanged. 

Top retail chain closing hundreds of locations

And now a top U.S. pharmacy chain, CVS, is closing as many as 270 underperforming locations this year. 

CVS  (CVS)  said it would be changing how it operates, opening small-scale stores that offer only pharmacy services. The stores will be about 5,000 square feet or less.

It will open about 12 of these, which will have smaller footprints and are aimed at increasingly choosy customers who are looking to save on everything and are far less brand-loyal, out of convenience or preference. 

"By taking a customized approach to our footprint that is focused on the specific needs of the communities we serve, we’re continuing to strategically realign our pharmacy footprint to better support patient and ensure the right geographic coverage," a CVS spokesperson said.

All told, CVS, Woonsocket, R.I., has closed about 900 stores over the past two years. It has opened about 100 new ones.

At Dec. 31 CVS operated more than 9,000 retail pharmacies and more than 1,000 walk-in and primary-care medical clinics.