The Boothbay Harbor Walgreens at 223 Townsend Ave. recently reduced pharmacy services from seven days a week to Monday through Thursday. Hours remain 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a lunch break closure from 1:30 to 2 p.m. The store remains on its normal schedule, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.

Store and pharmacy employees were unable to comment. A Walgreens spokesman told the Boothbay Register the ongoing labor shortage, prevalence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and surge of cases have caused the company to adjust operating hours or temporarily close a limited number of its 9,000-plus locations nationwide.

“When making the difficult decision to adjust store hours, we make every effort to minimize disruption for our customers … We provide patients as much advanced notice as possible through signage, automated phone calls and adjustments in refills.”

Walgreens tries to cut days with lowest prescription demand and ensure there is a nearby pharmacy for patients to have immediate prescription needs met, the spokesman said. The closest Walgreens stores are at 365 Main St., Damariscotta and 11 State Road, Bath.

“This latest COVID-19 surge is placing a significant strain on several industries in the short-term and driving demand for services and products unlike anything seen before. We’re going through this with our communities and remain committed to providing the support needed to get past this surge. Our pharmacy team members continue to provide testing services, vaccinations and antivirals to help all of us return to a sense of normalcy as soon as possible.”