Walgreens CEO says a turnaround of the drugstore giant’s U.S. retail pharmacy business could take several “quarters, not months.”

"We can serve payers very effectively from the footprint that remains," CEO Tim Wentworth says of the coming Walgreens closures.

Walgreens Boots Alliance will close a significant portion of its roughly 8,600 U.S. stores as the pharmacy chain seeks to turn around its struggling business, which has been hit by inflation-weary customers paring their spending.

Walgreens didn't specify the exact number of locations that would be closed, but said it will be a "meaningful percent" of the underperforming stores that make up about one-fourth of the company's total.