It looks like Walgreens may need to close more stores than expected to win Federal Trade Commission approval for its proposed acquisition of Rite Aid—the number just jumped from 500 to 1,000.
Ever since the FTC shot down the Staples and Office Depot merger back in May, companies considering a merger are working overtime to ensure they aren’t overly consolidating a sector. Back in July Walgreens annouced it expected to close 500 stores, but now that number has doubled, Retail Dive reports.
This news is not entirely surprising—after the $9.4B deal was announced last year Rite Aid said it could close up to 1,000 of the combined 12,800 stores the new company would run. Additionally, Cushman & Wakefield’s VP of retail research calculated a total of 3,000 Walgreens and Rite Aid stores near each other would eventually close as part of the merger. [RD]
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