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Nearly 10% of New York City’s drugstores have closed this year — a dramatic drop following a decade of retreats that has slashed their number by 40% as shoplifting continues to run rampant, according an explosive study.

The number of Walgreens, Duane Reade, CVS and Rite Aid stores across the city shrunk to 395 locations in 2024. That’s versus 435 last year, and down sharply from a peak of 656 in 2014, according to The Center for an Urban Futures annual report titled State of the Chains.”

Walgreens Boots Alliance, which owns Duane Reade, was the worst hit. The Big Apple’s largest chain closed 22 stores leaving it with 189 locations in the city, according to the report.

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.

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 after weathering the depths of the pandemic.

Also in 2022, a Rite Aid at Eighth Avenue and West 50th Street shuttered. It’s now being redeveloped as a smaller-format Whole Foods store.

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.

To avoid hassles, shoppers are skipping drugstores altogether and buying more essentials online.

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.

More New Yorkers can purchase this merchandise online, but when they do go to these stores there are fewer people working there and stuff is locked up.

More closures are likely. CVS, with 9,000 stores nationwide, announced in 2021 that it would shutter 900 stores over several years. 

“Decisions are NOT based on shoplifting or crime alone,’ a CVS spokeswoman told The Post when asked about the recent shutterings.

“Many factors are considered when closing a store, including population shifts, consumer buying patterns, store and pharmacy density, pharmacy care access, and community health needs,” the spokeswoman added.

A spokesperson for Rite Aid said, “Like many in the industry, we are seeing a higher level of brazen shoplifting and organized retail crime. We are taking an active role in helping law enforcement in their pursuit of shoplifters, as well as continuing our efforts to educate community leaders on the impact of retail theft and advocate for solutions.”

Indeed, the drugstore exodus is wreaking havoc on Big Apple streets, according to Bowles.

There have been graffiti on the empty store buildings or homeless people who have decided to sleep [by the entrance] because there is not an active store there, so its not a healthy thing for our retail landscape,” Bowles said.

Walgreens Boots Alliance said in October it’s planning to shutter 500 stores in 2025 and 1,200 altogether over the next three years.

The Chicago-based pharmacy chain, which has around 8,700 locations nationwide, said that one in four of its stores are unprofitable and that its is looking to improve our customers in-store experience.

A Walgreens rep told The Post that the closings are driven by increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures that are weighing on our ability to cover the costs associated with rent, staffing, and supply needs. 

The company has not directly tied its store closings to crime, but executives have said on earnings calls that “shrink” — which means theft in corporate speak — “represents a serious systemic issue across the retail industry.”

Big Apple drugstores have been particularly hard hit by a crime wave that accelerated with the start of the pandemic in 2020.

Shuttered drugstores account for an outsize share of the vacancy rate in New York City because demand is low for the larger spaces they typically occupy, Bowles added.  By one measure, empty drugstore space totals one million square feet, according to a New York Times report in August.

A few years ago, I thought we were too heavy with drugstores on almost every block, said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes development in the district. But whenever a pendulum swings too far in one direction it goes back.

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Technology

Tesla shares drop 7% in premarket trading after Elon Musk says he is launching a political party

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Tesla shares drop 7% in premarket trading after Elon Musk says he is launching a political party

White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) on March 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Samuel Corum | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Tesla shares fell in premarket trade on Monday after CEO Elon Musk announced plans to form a new political party.

The stock was down 7.13% by 4:27 a.m. E.T.

Musk said over the weekend that the party would be called the “America Party” and could focus “on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts.” He suggested this would be “enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people.”

The billionaire’s involvement in politics has been a point of contention for investors. Musk earlier this year was part of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and worked closely with President Donald Trump — a move seen as potentially hurting Tesla’s brand.

Musk left DOGE in May, which helped Tesla’s stock.

Now tech billionaire’s reinvolvement in the political arena is making investors nervous.

“Very simply Musk diving deeper into politics and now trying to take on the Beltway establishment is exactly the opposite direction that Tesla investors/shareholders want him to take during this crucial period for the Tesla story,” Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, said in a note on Sunday.

“While the core Musk supporters will back Musk at every turn no matter what, there is broader sense of exhaustion from many Tesla investors that Musk keeps heading down the political track.”

Musk’s previous political foray earned him Trump’s praise in the early days, but he has since drawn the ire of the U.S. president.

The two have clashed over various areas of policy, including Trump’s spending bill which Musk has said would increase America’s debt burden. Musk has taken issue to particular cuts to tax credits and support for solar and wind energy and electric vehicles.

Trump on Sunday called Musk’s move to form a political party “ridiculous,” adding that the Tesla boss had gone “completely off the rails.”

Musk is contending with more than just political turmoil. Tesla reported a 14% year-on-year decline in car deliveries in the second quarter, missing expectations. The company is facing rising competition, especially in its key market, China.

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Environment

Paris’ popular bike share program has a big sticky finger problem

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Paris' popular bike share program has a big sticky finger problem

Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.

According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.

“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.

The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.

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The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.

Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.

And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.

The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.

Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.

That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.

The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.

Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.

The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.

Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.

In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.

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Environment

CNBC Daily Open: Elon Musk, founder of companies and political parties

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CNBC Daily Open: Elon Musk, founder of companies and political parties

U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

When they lose a significant other, most men do indeed become a “TRAIN WRECK.” Then they pick up the pieces of their lives and start living again — paying attention to their personal grooming, hitting the gym and discovering new hobbies.

What does the world’s richest man do? He starts a political party.

Last weekend, as the United States celebrated its independence from the British in 1776, Elon Musk enshrined his sovereignty from U.S. President Donald Trump by establishing the creatively named “American Party.”

Few details have been revealed, but Musk said the party will focus on “just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” and will have legislative discussions “with both parties” — referring to the U.S. Democratic and Republican Parties.

It might be easier to realize Musk’s dream of colonizing Mars than to bridge the political aisle in the U.S. government today.

To be fair, some thought appeared to be behind the move. Musk decided to form the party after holding a poll on X in which 65.4% of respondents voted in favor.

Folks, here’s direct democracy — and the powerful post-separation motivation — in action.

 — CNBC’s Erin Doherty contributed to this report.

What you need to know today

And finally…

An investor sits in front of a board showing stock information at a brokerage office in Beijing, China.

Thomas Peter | Reuters

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