Walgreens will close five Chicago stores next month, part of the Deerfield-based pharmacy chain’s plan to shutter 1,200 locations by 2027.

Walgreens announced it was closing a dozen stores in San Francisco because of what it called "increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures" in the latest round of retail store closures in the city.

NOTE: The video above is from Oct. 2024 when the company announced it would shutter up to 1,200 stores Walgreens will close five Chicago stores in the coming weeks, a company spokesperson confirmed to NBC Chicago.

In an earnings call, executive Tim Wentworth conceded that locking products up might not be the best move for boosting sales.

CEO Tim Wentworth admitted in a recent fiscal report call that combatting shoplifting by locking up items has led to customer dissatisfaction.

The top executive at Walgreens lamented the loss of sales from putting items like toothpaste behind lock and key to crack down on rampant shoplifting that has plagued pharmacy chains around the country.

Walgreens has come to find out that both shoplifters and customers are turned off when items are locked away. In an earnings call on Tuesday, the drug store’s CEO Tim Wentworth blamed declining sales on locked up items: “When you lock things up

One of Walgreen's most visible anti-shoplifting strategies is having unintended consequences. Tim Wentworth, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, the parent company of Duane Reade, acknowledged to investors during a Jan.