US Pharma Marketing
The United States has almost 8,000 fewer retail pharmacies than it did in 2018, and more than 2,000 closed in 2025 alone. Rite Aid has liquidated. Walgreens is working through a multi-year plan to shutter hundreds of stores. CVS has trimmed hundreds more.
Yet total U.S. prescription dispensing revenues for all dispensing formats reached a record $751 billion in 2025, up 10% from 2024.
Record closures and record revenue in the same year may seem contradictory, but national totals obscure very different effects on the community. The impact of the retail pharmacy shakeout on patient access has become geographically K-shaped: dense markets can absorb pharmacy closures with little loss of patient access, while rural communities can lose their only nearby pharmacy.
The economic pressures on pharmacies are similar across the country. The access consequences of a closure are not. Below, we examine what is driving the shakeout and why geography determines which communities can absorb them.
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