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Store count seems to have peaked in 2018. Yes that data goes to 2021 but I doubt it got better after that.

https://schaeffer.usc.edu/research/pharmacy-closures-united-...

The bigger thing is consolidation and independents being replaced by bigger fish because their leverage is very very low.

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If you read the data you would have observed that a large chunk of those store closures were by the big retail pharmacy chains, which blows your central thesis out of the water.

Maybe in absolute numbers but the situation for the ma and pa operations is worse:

“Independent pharmacies, often excluded from networks by pharmacy benefit managers, were more than twice as likely to face closure compared to chain pharmacies.”

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