Walgreens location at 3405 S. King Dr in Bronzeville. (Photo by Erick Johnson)
With declining revenues in fiscal 2025, Walgreens is closing three stores in three predominately Black wards on the South Side. Two of those stores are anchors in popular shopping centers that have been in business for decades.
This week, the retailer announced plans to close stores at the Lake Meadows Shopping Center at 3405 S. King Drive in Bronzeville (4th Ward); Jeffery Plaza at South Jeffery Boulevard at 7109 South Jeffery Blvd. in South Shore (5th Ward) and 7111 South Western Ave. (18th Ward).
Walgreens also said it closed its store at 9148 South Commercial Avenue in South Chicago (10th Ward), a predominantly Latino ward. It will also close its store in Little Village at 4005 West 26th Street.
A company spokesperson told NBC Chicago the stores will close between February 17 and Feb 27. The Lake Meadows store will close February 26, and the Jeffery Plaza store will close February 27. The Chicago-area based retailer blamed the closures on costs “associated with rent, staffing and supplies.”

Walgreens did not release sales and revenues for these stores, but in October 2024, the retailer announced that it will close up to 1,200 “underperforming stores” by 2027, with 500 closures taking place within one calendar year of the announcement.
A spokesperson for Walgreens said, “It is never an easy decision to close a store. We know that our stores are important to the communities we serve and, therefore, do everything possible to improve their performance. When closures are necessary, like those here in Chicago, we will work in partnership with community stakeholders to minimize customer disruptions.”
The company pledged to “minimize customer disruption” and said it would try to move employees to other stores.
On January 10, during its quarterly meeting, Walgreens announced that it lost $245 million in its fiscal first quarter, compared to an operating loss of $39 million in its fiscal 2024 first quarter.
In the past 10 years, Walgreens closed numerous stores in Black neighborhoods in Chicago. The Walgreens closures occurred in Chatham, Woodlawn, South Shore, Austin, and Washington Heights.

However, the latest closures are a blow to residents in Black neighborhoods who rely on Walgreens to get prescriptions at the store’s pharmacy department. They must now travel to other Walgreens located farther away in different neighborhoods. In Bronzeville, residents can go to the Walgreens in the South Loop at 501 W. Roosevelt Rd. Patrons in South Shore can shop at the Walgreens in Woodlawn at 1533 E. 67th St. Residents in West Englewood can shop at the Walgreens at 640 W. 63rd.
The Walgreens stores that will close in Bronzeville and South Shore have long served as anchors in the Lake Meadows and Jeffery Plaza. At the Lake Meadows Shopping Center, the LA Fitness Gym will be the only anchor in the complex. At the Jeffery Plaza, the Local Market supermarket, which opened in 2019, will be the complex’s only anchor.
The Walgreens closure in the Jeffery Plaza will be a blow to the complex and efforts to revitalize 71st Street in South Shore. In 2013, Dominick’s supermarket closed its store in Jeffery Plaza and the space remained vacant for six years before the Jakubowski family opened Local Market. The Jakubowski family also owns the Jeffery Plaza, which is in the 71st/Stony Island TIF district, and the ordinance specifies that the TIF district set aside $7 million for property acquisition as part of the TIF district’s “redevelopment plan.”