Walgreens to close thousands of stores

(CNN)– Walgreens announced it is closing about 12 hundred locations including 500 over the next year.

The closures represent a significant escalation from a few months ago.

That is when the financially struggling drug store chain announced it was shutting down 300 underperforming locations as part of a multi-year optimization program.

The 12 hundred closures announced on Tuesday, Oct. 15, includes the 300 closures announced in June.