Walgreens Closing Stores, About 600, in Rite Aid Deal

Walgreens is closing 600 stores, mostly Rite Aids, as the company completes a $4.38 billion deal to buy nearly 2,000 stores from its rival.

Company spokesman Michael Polzin said Wednesday most of the closings will be Rite Aid stores, and the vast majority will be within a mile of another store in the Walgreens network, The Associated Press reported.

Walgreens isn’t saying yet exactly which stores will close.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., based in Deerfield, Illinois, announced its acquisition plan last month, nearly two years after the nation’s biggest drugstore chain launched an attempt to buy all of Rite Aid Corp., based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Regulators balked at that bigger deal.

The store closings will start next spring and be completed over 18 months. Walgreens operates more than 13,200 stores worldwide.

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