SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Walgreens is set to close five San Francisco stores due to “ongoing organized retail crime” in the area, the company confirmed to KRON4 News Tuesday.
In a statement, Walgreens said in part:
“Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco and we are not immune to that. Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average. During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide as safe environment.”
Walgreens
The stores closing are:
- 2550 Ocean Ave.
– Closing Nov. 8
– Prescription files will be transfered to 1630 Ocean Ave. - 4645 Mission Street
– Closing Nov. 11
– Prescription files will be transfered to 965 Geneva Street - 745 Clement Street
– Closing Nov. 15
– Prescription files will be transfered to 3601 California Street - 300 Gough Street
– Closing Nov. 15
– Prescription files will be transfered to 2145 Market Street - 3400 Cesar Chavez Street
– Closing Nov. 17
– Prescription files will be transfered to 2690 Mission Street
Current Walgreens customers who have prescriptions on file at any of the above closing stores do not need to take any action, as prescriptions will be automatically transferred. Additional information will be mailed.
According to officials, Walgreens team members currently working in stores that are set to close are expected to be placed in other nearby locations.
Walgreens has already closed more than a dozen of its stores in the city due to the uptick in organized crime in the region.
“We’ve had incidents where our security officers are assaulted on a pretty regular basis in San Francisco,” Brendan Dugan, head of CVS’ retail crime division, said at a 13 May hearing with city officials, according to a New York Times report.
Just four months ago, a man was caught on camera in what became a viral video brazenly shoplifting from a San Francisco Walgreens back in June. That suspect, 40-year-old Jean Lugo Romero, was linked to 8 shoplifting cases.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
