National retail pharmacy chain Walgreens plans to lay off more than 150 Texas employees, according to a Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification notice (WARN). The 159 cuts will take place on June 1 at the Harris Gulf Coast Workforce Development Area.
The major Texas layoff comes amid the company’s move to eliminate 469 jobs in Illinois, where it is headquartered, according to Bloomberg. It also follows the Sycamore Partners acquisition of Walgreens in August 2025, which transitioned the company to operate as a private, standalone company.
“Walgreens benefits millions of Americans, and I am confident that, enhanced by the flexibility of operating as a private, standalone organization, it can move with certainty, speed and focus to deliver meaningful value to its customers,” Stefan Kaluzny, managing director of Sycamore, stated in the August news release.
Before the acquisition, Walgreens announced it planned to close around 1,200 locations in October 2024, according to the Associated Press. The hardship reflects a nationwide trend among drugstore retailers, driven by shrinking prescription reimbursements, persistent theft, rising costs and consumers shifting to online sellers or lower-priced competitors, the Associated Press reported.
To trim costs, Sycamore has already begun cutting staff and taking away paid holidays for some employees, Bloomberg reported. In a letter sent to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Walgreens reportedly wrote the following: Walgreens is reorganizing several areas of the business to best position the Company for growth and deliver results where they matter most: in our stores and with our customers and patients.”
Walgreens sent MySA the following statement regarding the Texas layoffs:
“We have made the difficult decision to close our Houston Distribution Center. We sincerely thank the team members at that location for their dedication and contributions. By streamlining service and deliveries from a single source — the Waxahachie Distribution Center—we believe we can better serve our customers while reducing workload for our store teams,” a Walgreens spokesperson stated.
Source – https://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/walgreens-layoffs-21858546.php