Achi news desk-
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyber attack, they began a “gradual reopening” on Saturday.
In a statement, the company said it “takes time with each store to ensure systems are working and ready to serve customers.”
“We ask for your patience as we work with each store to ensure it is fully operational to meet the needs of our customers, and therefore we will not be communicating which stores are opening and when,” the statement reads.
The company said its store systems are “complex” and connect to multiple third-party providers, “each with different requirements.”
“We continue to work with our third-party cyber security experts to bring our systems online in a secure manner,” the statement reads.
“This is a time-consuming process and, rather than delay until all services and systems are fully available, we have opened our core services in some stores to meet our customers’ healthcare and daily needs before as soon as possible. bring in other services and systems as soon as our reconnection is complete and fully operational.”
CTV News managed to buy the London Drugs at Broadway and Cambie Street in Vancouver on Saturday afternoon, before the company announced its gradual reopening.
The company did not specify how many stores had reopened, and did not provide a timetable for when the reopening would be complete.
The retail and pharmacy chain closed all 79 of its locations across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba on Sunday, April 28, in response to a “cybersecurity incident.”
Since then, shops have remained closed. Phone lines to the stores were out of service on Monday as part of the investigation into the incident, but were restored on Wednesday afternoon.
London Drugs said there are pharmacists on site at all locations “to assist with emergency prescriptions and other emergency care.” Canada Post in-store locations are also “accessible,” the company said.
Including April 28, Saturday is the seventh day in a row that London Drugs stores have been closed for at least part of the day.
