Walgreens plans to lay off 393 workers at a Southern Illinois distribution center — a move that follows an announcement just months ago that it planned to eliminate more than 500 corporate jobs.
Layoffs at the Edwardsville distribution center will be effective Aug. 28, according to a WARN notice filed with the state. Walgreens plans to shutter the plant.
Walgreens said in a statement Wednesday that the layoffs are part of efforts to “transform our business into a consumer-centric healthcare company,” including by re-examining “how we use our network of stores to ship orders to our patients’ and customers’ homes.”
“As a result, we have made the difficult decision to close our e-commerce distribution center in Edwardsville, Ill., later this summer resulting in the elimination of approximately 400 roles,” Walgreens said in the statement. “We are grateful for the many contributions our team members at this facility have made and we are committed to supporting them during this transition.”
The notice with the state was filed just about a month after Walgreens said it planned to eliminate about 10% of its corporate workforce, with most of the affected jobs in its Deerfield and Chicago offices.
Walgreens is in the midst of cost-cutting after a disappointing last quarter and other challenges in recent years. Walgreens leaders said in late June that they planned to raise their cost-savings goal by 17% to $4.1 billion. Walgreens leaders have also said they plan to close 150 stores in the U.S. and 300 in the United Kingdom by fall 2024.
Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer blamed the company’s most recent financial performance on less demand for COVID-19 tests and vaccines, a slow respiratory illness season, and consumers facing inflation and an uncertain economy, during an earnings call late last month.
Walgreens had an operating loss during the first nine months of this fiscal year of $6.4 billion, compared with an operating income of $2.2 billion during the same period last year.
Walgreens has been striving in recent years to transform into a health care destination, to compete with rivals CVS Health and Amazon. As part of that effort, Walgreens has invested in and acquired a number of other companies to expand its offerings.
