"There is no doubt that locking up products, moving to automated check out and having fewer people working in these stores has contributed to fewer people going into their stores," Jonathan Bowles, executive director of The Center for an Urban Future, told The Post.
Experts blame not only crime but also drugstores' stepped-up security measures - most notably locking merchandise behind plexiglass, forcing customers to call and wait for store clerks for everything from shampoo to painkillers.
Among the casualties were two massive Duane Reade locations this spring - one at 4 Times Square and the other at the corner of Broadway and West 50th Street. That's after the 16,200-square-foot Walgreens flagship store at One Times Square shuttered in 2022.
CVS, meanwhile, shuttered 10 stores leaving 160 locations. Rite Aid, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year, closed eight stores this year and now operates just 46 in the city.
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