SAN LEANDRO — Walgreens and Bloomingdale’s revealed plans to slash jobs in the Bay Area, fresh layoffs that extend a rocky start to 2025 for the region’s wobbly retail sector.
So far this year, several retailers have disclosed decisions to reduce staffing and close locations in the Bay Area, according to WARN letters the companies have sent to the state Employment Development Department.
In January, grocery stores Safeway and Draeger’s Supermarkets, department stores Macy’s and Kohl’s, and drug stores such as Rite Aid reported separate layoff decisions to the state EDD.
Walgreens and Bloomingdale’s are the latest to sketch out their intentions to chop Bay Area jobs.
Here are some of the details of the latest job cuts affecting retail workers in the nine-county region, according to the WARN letters sent to the EDD:
— Bloomingdale’s, an anchor of a dying mall at 845 Market Street in San Francisco, has decided to chop 164 jobs as part of the department store’s closure in the complex. These layoffs are due to occur on March 31.
— Walgreens closed a store at 1456 136th Avenue in San Leandro, a shutdown that eliminated 26 jobs. The layoffs took place on Jan. 31.
“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close eight Walgreens stores,” Walgreens stated in its WARN notice.
Including San Leandro, Walgreens closed stores in Los Angeles, the Central Valley cities of Reedley and Dinuba, and the Southern California cities of Whittier, Placentia, Orange and Stanton.
The Walgreens shutdowns erased 149 jobs in California, according to the WARN notices.
Bloomingdale’s and Walgreens both said their job cuts were permanent.