I worked in the drug store industry for a number of years. During my time in the business, there was massive consolidation. The industry evolved into three behemoths - Walgreens, CVS and RiteAid- as the small mom and pop's drug stores were bought up en masse. It appeared that economies of scale would support a massively consolidated drug store business. For a while, that's what happened, but as time progressed the industry got squeezed in the middle between their suppliers and their customers. Suppliers tightly controlled the price of their drugs. Insurance companies controlled the price that their customers would pay.
Drug stores' sales are split between "front end" and "back end". In the front is over priced merchandise that can be purchased elsewhere for much less. The back end is all the drugs sold by the pharmacy. The competition is high in both ends of the business.
All the above economic and competitive factors point to a business that has the walls falling in around them.
