Walgreens plans to close a distribution center in Houston, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice viewed by Supply Chain Dive.
Following the closure, the company plans to streamline service and deliveries from a single source — a distribution center in Waxahachie, Texas — to better serve customers while reducing workload for store employees, a spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive in an email.
The closure will impact 159 employees, with permanent layoffs slated to start June 1, per the notice which was filed Feb. 12. Affected employees will remain employed and receive full compensation for a 60-day period or until they resign — whichever comes first. Employees will also have access to on-site career fairs and outplacement services.
The Texas closure comes as the company plans layoffs elsewhere within its operations.
Elsewhere in its supply chain, Walgreens has opted to expand the use of micro-fulfillment centers, which use technology to handle and ship prescriptions to retail locations.
Walgreens has been using micro-fulfillment centers since 2021, the spokesperson said. The network currently supports roughly 5,100 stores and fills more than 16 million prescriptions per month. As of now, Walgreens operates 14 micro-fulfillment centers, according to its website.
The drugstore chain opened a new micro-fulfillment center in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, in May 2025, which was expected to process about 13 million prescriptions annually and service nearly 200 stores in the Midwest.
In December 2025, Walgreens opened a 27,000-square-foot center in West Jordan, Utah, the spokesperson said. The new facility supports 96 retail stores across the region and will process about 4.2 million prescriptions each year.
Micro-fulfillment centers “allow our in-store pharmacy team members to focus more of their time on patient-centric services such as vaccinations and preventive care, patient outreach and medication adherence,” the spokesperson said.
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