page_title: Walgreens
section_title: 21st-century expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Walgreens / History / 21st-century expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: A Walgreens on Canal Street, New Orleans at night
context_page_description: Walgreen Company or simply Walgreens is an American company that operates as the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, and photo services. As of August 31, 2019, the company operated 9,277 stores in the United States. It was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1901. The Walgreens headquarters office is in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois.
  In 2014 the company agreed to purchase the remaining 55% of Switzerland-based Alliance Boots that it did not already own to form a global business. Under the terms of the purchase, the two companies merged to form a new holding company, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., on December 31, 2014. Walgreens became a subsidiary of the new company, which retains its Deerfield headquarters and trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol WBA.
context_section_description: 2006: Walgreens acquired the Happy Harry's chain in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey.
  October 2007: Walgreens opened its 6,000th store, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  January 2008: Walgreens purchased 20 stores in Puerto Rico from Farmacias El Amal.
  July 2009: Walgreens operates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
  February 17, 2010: Walgreens announced plans to acquire New York City-area chain Duane Reade for $1.075 billion, including debt. Walgreens continues to use the Duane Reade name on some stores in the New York City metropolitan area
  March 24, 2011: Walgreens acquired Drugstore.com for $409 million. Drugstore.com, in turn, owned Beauty.com. In 2013 Beauty.com was named by Internet Retailer Magazine in its Top 100 online retail sites list.
  April 30, 2011: Walgreens operated 8,169 stores; it had expanded into Guam and Puerto Rico.
  August 18, 2011: Walgreens introduced its "Nice!" store brand of food and household products. Fully rolled out in 2012, the Nice! brand replaced a variety of existing Walgreens store brands such as Deerfield Farms, Cafe W, and others.
  June 19, 2012: Walgreens paid $6.7 billion for a 45% interest in Alliance Boots.
  July 5, 2012: Walgreens entered into an agreement to acquire Mid-South drug store chain operating under the USA Drug, Super D Drug, May's Drug, Med-X, and Drug Warehouse banners. The deal was expected to be finalized by September 1, 2012.
  September 10, 2013: Walgreens announced it had acquired Kerr Drug.
  September 14, 2013: Walgreens opens its first store in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
  August 6, 2014: Walgreens exercised its option to purchase the remaining 55% of Alliance Boots. The combined company is known as the Walgreens Boots Alliance and is headquartered in Chicago.
  August 9, 2014 Walgreens Boots Alliance purchased a share in the Almus Generic brand for an unknown price. Almus was based in the UK with Walgreens bringing the generic medication into the US. 
  On October 27, 2015, Walgreens announced that it would acquire its rival Rite Aid for $9 per share, a deal valued at $9.4 billion, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. The deal will result in a merger of two of the United States' three largest pharmacy chains. In response to being able to receive approval, Walgreens said that it would be willing to divest up to 1,000 stores to win regulatory approval for its Rite Aid purchase. Walgreens and Rite Aid, combined, own approximately 200 million square feet of retail space in addition to 21 million square feet of office and warehouse space. The two chains operate 12,900 stores in the United States. Walgreens operates 13,100 stores across 11 countries. Walgreens' CEO has stated that there is potentially over $1 billion in savings to be reaped from the merger through synergies. On December 21, 2016, it was announced that Fred's would acquire 865 Rite Aid stores as a result of the merger for the price of US$950 million for antitrust reasons. In January 2017, Walgreens reached a deal to lower the price of the acquisition from $9.4 to $6.8-$7.4 billion and delayed the closing by six months. On June 29, 2017, Walgreens announced that it would drop its original plan to acquire Rite Aid due to resistance from federal regulators, and would instead buy about half of Rite Aid's existing stores for $5.18 billion in cash. Under the terms of the agreement, Walgreens will acquire 2,186 stores, 3 distribution centers, and other Rite Aid inventory. The stores are expected to be converted from Rite Aid stores into Walgreens stores, making Walgreens the largest drug-store chain by number of locations in the U.S. with over 10,200 stores. The company also agreed to pay Rite Aid a $325 million fee for ending the earlier merger agreements. The deal was scrapped on June 29, 2017. On September 19, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a fourth deal agreement to purchase Rite Aid with 1,932 stores for $4.38 billion total.
  On July 28, 2016, Walgreens announced it would shut down Drugstore.com, as well as Beauty.com, in order to focus on its own Walgr
caption: A neon-lit store on Canal Street in New Orleans
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