Walgreens to close Orlando VillageMD locations on March 15

ORLANDO, Fla. - VillageMD announced that it would be closing its Orlando locations on March 15. This move has frustrated many of its patients. 

"Thousands of people are being affected. Doctors have to find new jobs, nurses gotta find new jobs, and their patients are going to have to find new doctors," said Leora Ysaguirre, a VillageMD patient.

Walgreens started opening VillageMD clinics inside existing stores in 2020 to much fanfare. 

"The first five launches of the Village Medical at Walgreens clinics have been extremely successful," said VillageMD Pharmacist Jina George at the time.

Four years later, they weren't successful enough to keep company leaders from shutting many of them down, including their entire Orlando market. John Driscoll, president of Walgreens US Healthcare, told investors on an earnings call that many locations just weren't making enough money. 

"We are not satisfied with the near-term returns on our investments, he said, "with that, we plan to exit approximately five markets and approximately 60 clinics in fiscal 2024."

Walgreens officials told us they made the move after "careful consideration and analysis." Patients like Ysaguirre said they'd come to trust their VillageMD doctors, only to have this decision rip that away. "I'll be honest with you, it's very emotional for me. I just found a good doctor, and I'm well-established with her. She knows my medical history. To find this out, it's going to be difficult to find another one," she said.

"I really loved Dr. Martinez. He was very down-to-earth and personable, and his staff was great, too. It was kind of a shock to me, a couple of weeks ago, when I found out they were closing when I went in for my annual checkup," added VillageMD patient Mike Bertsch.

VillageMD told us they’d work with patients to help find new doctors, transfer their medical records, and fill prescriptions until March 15. Ysaguirre said the company had lost her trust and business. 

"I've already made my mind up, I'm not going to Walgreens, no more."