Walgreens to Shut Most Stores for Thanksgiving Holiday

This is the first time that Walgreens has given employees time off on Thanksgiving.

A Walgreens retail store in Boston, on June 4, 2014. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

A majority of Walgreens stores will be closed on Thanksgiving for the first time in the drugstore company’s history, the company stated on Nov. 16.

Walgreens operates nearly 9,000 retail sites across the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“On Thanksgiving Day, most Walgreens locations will be closed,” the firm said in a Nov. 16 statement. “Nearly all 700 Walgreens 24-hour locations will remain open on Thanksgiving to help meet the healthcare needs of our customers. This is the first time Walgreens has closed stores on Thanksgiving Day to give time back to its workforce.”

In addition to the 24-hour locations, a “small number” of Walgreens distribution centers, supply chains, and centralized teams will also continue their operations on Nov. 23. Walgreens stated that the closed stores would operate at regular hours on both Nov. 22 and Nov. 24, which is Black Friday.

The company is “grateful” to employees who will be working at the 24-hour locations on the holiday, insisting they’re “essential in delivering care to their communities and serve as a critical destination for healthcare services, including prescription access, pharmacist advice, and medication management.”

“We have consistently heard from our team members—who are the face of Walgreens—that time off is a meaningful way for us to demonstrate we value them,” said Tracey D. Brown, EVP, president of Walgreens retail and chief customer officer.

“We heard them, are committed to listening to their feedback, and are dedicated to doing what is right for them. We hope they can enjoy the holiday and spend time with their loved ones.”

Walgreens’s decision to give most employees the day off on Thanksgiving follows after workers had held multiple strikes against the company over dissatisfaction with the work environment.

A strike between Oct. 9 and Oct. 11 saw some Walgreens stores in Arizona, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington shut down.

A Reddit post from a Walgreens employee calling for walkouts claimed that management “continued to cut hours while adding more tasks,” which the worker said was unsafe for both staff and patients.

“I have spent hours explaining to patients why we scheduled them an appointment for a vaccine we didn’t have. I’ve also given over 100 vaccines in a day all by myself while 600-plus leaflets lay on the counter. Two of my technicians walked out mid-shift,” the person wrote.

“My pharmacy has historically been top of the chain, but these corporate demands are unrealistic and unfair to us and to our patients.”

A three-day strike by some Walgreens employees occurred last month. Shane Jerominski, a former Walgreens pharmacist and one of the organizers of the walkout, said certain stores were “grossly understaffed.”

Thanksgiving Store Closures

Walgreens’s competitor CVS intends to close all of its non-24-hour pharmacy outlets early on Thanksgiving, the company said in a statement to Axios. Rite Aid also intends to shut down its pharmacies on Thanksgiving.

Outside of the pharma industry, major retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s, and Macy’s will remain closed during the holiday, according to CBS News. Dollar General informed the outlet that its stores will remain open on the day in most states.

Shoppers walk into a Macy's department store at Miami International Mall in Doral, Fla., on Feb. 22, 2021. Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo

In an interview with USA Today, Mathew Isaac, chair of the marketing department at the Seattle University Albers School of Business and Economics, said that “in the past, when the vast majority of retailer sales were made in person at physical stores, retailers kept trying to one-up each other by starting their Black Friday sales earlier and earlier as a potential competitive advantage.”

“Eventually, this tactic spilled over into Thanksgiving as some retailers began offering Black Friday sales on Thursday itself,” he said.

However, things have changed, according to Mr. Isaac. Retailers have been kicking off holiday sales as early as October, he noted, bringing an end to Black Friday as the official start of the holiday shopping season.

“It is no longer crucial for them to focus so much on any one particular day since the start of the holiday shopping season is much more fluid than it used to be previously. Even the line between Black Friday and Cyber Monday has blurred.”

Thanksgiving Sales

A survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that 182 million Americans will shop in-store and online during the five-day period (Nov. 23 through Nov. 27) from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year. That’s 15.7 million more people than last year and is the highest level since 2017.

People shop during Black Friday in Santa Anita within the city of Arcadia, Calif. on Nov. 25, 2022. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Black Friday was found to be the most popular day to shop, with 72 percent planning to do shopping that day, up from 69 percent last year. Cyber Monday took the second spot.

The top reason consumers choose to shop during this period is that the deals are said to be “too good to pass up,” with 61 percent of respondents agreeing to it. Twenty-eight percent of people cited “tradition” as a reason.

“The Thanksgiving holiday weekend marks some of the busiest shopping days of the year, as consumers enjoy the tradition of shopping for the perfect gifts for friends and loved ones,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.

“Retailers have been preparing for months for this occasion. They are stocked and ready to help customers find the gifts and other items they want at great prices during the entire holiday season.”