Healthcare

Walgreens didn’t abandon Chicago’s South Side. We let crime drive them out

Rooftop Revelations: Chicago Alderman William Hall called the closure of Walgreens on the South Side 'pharmaceutical genocide' but where was the outrage during the theft crisis?

By Corey Brooks Fox News

Published June 2, 2026 10:00am EDT

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Chicago alderman says Walgreens should be charged over store closure

Ald. William Hall called it a crime that the retail chain was closing a location amid theft and safety concerns. (WFLD)

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Walgreens didn’t leave the South Side of Chicago because they hate Black people. They left because we made it impossible for them to stay.

Just recently, another Walgreens shut down on Cottage Grove, and once again the public conversation turned in the wrong direction. People started blaming the company, blaming corporate greed, blaming everything except the conditions on the ground that made staying there untenable. But businesses do not keep stores open out of charity. They stay where people shop, where customers feel safe and where theft and disorder do not make daily operations a losing proposition.

At that Cottage Grove Walgreens, the theft was off the charts. By local reports, the store lost more than a million dollars to theft in a single year. Walgreens poured roughly $400,000 into security guards at that one location and still couldn’t stop the shoplifting, the brazen grab-and-runs and the threats to staff. All the while, honest customers, especially the elderly, came in less because they didn’t feel safe. When you combine high theft, high security and insurance costs, and falling sales, the math stops working. In a capitalist country, no corporation........

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