Walgreens Closing 600 Stores

Walgreens Boots Alliance (Deerfield, Ill.) announced that it will close nearly 600 stores following its $4.4 billion cash deal to acquire Rite Aid (Camp Hill, Pa.). The deal, which has been in the works for two years, is set to close in the spring of 2018.

Most of the stores set to close will be Rite Aid-branded stores, but “a few” will be Walgreens’ own stores, reports Fortune. While specific locations have not been disclosed, the company did say that the closures will affect those areas where Rite Aid and Walgreens stores are within too-close proximity. Many are within a mile of each other.

The closures will take about a year and a half to complete and will begin once the deal closes.