CVS Health is wrapping up a three-year plan aimed at optimizing its vast retail footprint.

In November 2021, the Woonsocket, R.I.-based pharmacy chain announced plans to shutter 900 stores between 2022 and 2024, with the goal of about 300 per year. As of Oct. 23, there have been 875 closures, a CVS spokesperson confirmed to NJBIZ.

Since January 2022, the company has closed 15 stores in New Jersey, according to this person. The brand now has about 340 outposts left statewide, including those inside Target retail stores.

It was not immediately clear if there will be any further impact to New Jersey.

“The store closure decisions are based on population shifts, consumer buying patterns, a community’s store density, maintaining access to pharmacy services and future health needs to ensure we have the right stores in the right locations for consumers,” the media representative said.

The rep added, “The strategic realignment also supports the evolution of our stores into community health destinations that meet our patients’ health, wellness and pharmacy needs.”

“Even after the realignment work, 85% of people in the U.S. will still live within 10 miles of a CVS Pharmacy. During the same time, we opened 100 new stores,” the spokesperson noted. “We’re closing locations strategically – as announced three years ago – not in reaction to industry pressures.”

New CEO steps in

One of the largest health care companies in the country, CVS operates health care insurance provider Aetna Inc. and pharmacy benefits manager CVS Caremark, as well as 9,000 retail locations and 1,100 walk-in clinics nationwide.

Last year, CVS completed two acquisitions – of home care provider Signify Health for $8 billion and value-based medical chain Oak Street Health for $10.6 billion – as part of its mission to advance a “value-based care strategy.”

The company last week named David Joyner, a longtime CVS executive who previously worked at Aetna and Caremark, as its new chief executive officer, replacing Karen Lynch.

Though CVS reportedly engaged strategic advisors in September to explore options that could include a breakup to separate its retail and business units, a spokesperson recently told CNBC the company will now move forward intact.

Layoffs hit NJ office

The leadership changes came a few weeks after CVS disclosed plans to cut 2,900 jobs nationwide as part of a multiyear campaign to trim $2 billion in costs. The downsizing primarily focuses on corporate positions in regional offices and will affect fewer than 1% of the overall workforce, according to the company.

Within New Jersey, CVS plans to cut 111 positions at its Florham Park corporate office in January 2025.

Over the past year, CVS has already eliminated 5,000 non-consumer-facing jobs nationwide to reduce expenses. Locally, nearly 300 workers were laid off. 

CVS’ efforts to reset its business come as more customers fill prescriptions online. Drugstore chains are also contending with rising prices and a downturn in consumer spending.

Rival chain Walgreens just announced plans to shut down 1,200 locations over the next three years in a bid to slash $1 billion in costs.

Meanwhile, Rite Aid recently emerged from bankruptcy with a whittled-down portfolio of 1,300 stores.