Retailer Walgreens announced that it will close about 200 stores across the United States. According to the company, it has planned to remove those stores that were not meeting sales expectations. In August 2014, Walgreens, which is the largest drug retailing chain in the United States, announced that it is set to build on a $1 billion charge-reduction strategy.

The company also said that customers and people linked to the company have nothing to worry about. According to reports, shut down of 200 stores would only affect the company's 2% locations in the United States, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands.

Walgreens said that decision has been taken to generate revenue from the locations. In addition, the new move will allow the company to find the reason for poor sales, when compared to other stores. In 2014, the Walgreens closed more than 70 stores as a part of the company's three-year cost-reduction plan.

The company did not reveal whether it will close more stores in the future, but according to the company, by the end of 2017 fiscal year, the company hopes to reduce costs by about $1.5 billion. As per some reports, the acquisition of Alliance Boots in 2014 has helped the company to grow.

After the deal, Alliance Boots was renamed Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. Walgreens has more than 12,500 stores in 11 different countries. Stefano Pessina, acting CEO of Walgreens, said, "Evaluating the location of stores would prevent the closure of stores, caused by neglect of issues. The company closes 10 stores a year, it does not mean that 10 new stores will be opened".

The company also announced that despite the shutdown of 200 stores, the sales were up by about 35% from a year earlier.