Walgreens and pharmacy closures

[storewanderer]

So I noticed in both Moline and Davenport a couple of Walgreens stores fully open and fully stocked but with pharmacy closed. One store had a sign that said pharmacy temporary closed effective 11/2022. Another had a sign that said pharmacy permanently closed effective 6/2023. One wasn't in a great area but the other seemed to be in a central and decent area. I find it interesting they find it worth their while to keep running the front end in these stores after closing pharmacy.

Is this sort of thing common? I've never seen it before.

[buckguy]

Walgreens seems willing to experiment and this sort of thing is not unheard of--many chains have had a few non-Rx stores in the past and CVS got their start as essentially drug stores w/o pharmacies.

[storewanderer]

Walgreens seems willing to experiment and this sort of thing is not unheard of--many chains have had a few non-Rx stores in the past and CVS got their start as essentially drug stores w/o pharmacies.

But those non-pharmacy CVS and Walgreens in the past were typically in malls or other unusual locations where a pharmacy didn't necessarily make sense. For instance CVS has a newish (under 10 years old) no pharmacy unit in Stateline, NV in the middle of a few casinos to cater to tourists. They also had a couple no pharmacy locations in tourist heavy areas of San Francisco too (may have closed those). What is funny in the case of the CVS is they did build a pharmacy into the store, they just don't operate it. They put a checkout counter back there (which is never used) and use the work area as a stockroom. The store has a tiny backroom otherwise and due to the surges in business it gets on weekends/holidays for "big" items like drinks, snacks, etc. it needs all the space it can possibly get for backstock. Vendors leave quite a bit of stuff too as the store just gets wiped out on a lot of beverages and doesn't have enough space to meet demand. This store is a great amenity for tourists who don't want to pay casino prices for drinks and snacks. CVS has cut most space for things like paper products/laundry since there is no demand for that in this location but for some reason they kept quite a space for school supplies (more space for school supplies than paper products... makes no sense but I guess they have the sales data).

The last time I saw a no pharmacy Walgreens was back in the early 1990's in a couple of different malls down in the San Francisco bay area.

These stores with no pharmacy I saw recently are the standard freestanding Walgreens building from the 00's or maybe even 10's with a drive through pharmacy space and everything.

[jamcool]

Walgreens used to have stores in malls called Walgreens Limited Mostly HBA and no pharmacy.

[Alpha8472]

I remember a very large Walgreens inside Sunvalley Mall in Concord, California in the 80s and 90s. It was near the entrance to Sears.

Back then Walgreens had quite a nice selection of items. It was more like a variety store with toys, household items, and gifts. Everytime you visited, it was like a treasure hunt.

[wnetmacman]

I had not seen a Walgreens without a pharmacy until this past June, but that was in Celebration, FL near Disney, so it made sense. It did look weird, however, because the pharmacy had once been there.

[Alpha8472]

Back around 2002, I was in a Walgreens in Downtown San Francisco. I had never seen such a crowded Walgreens in my entire life. It was packed wall to wall with customers. There were probably 7 cashiers.

The tourists and office workers were buying merchandise like crazy. Back then there was no Target and no Walmart. People had to buy from Walgreens. A journey to a Target would be a long journey by train.

I was literally pressed up against hundreds of customers with inches of space. Many Walgreens in San Francisco did not have pharmacies. They were like convenience stores for people.

Walgreens was expensive, but they made tons of money. There were Walgreens stores all over. It seemed like there was one on practically every block in busy areas. Business was booming and San Francisco was still a nice place to shop and sightsee.

Today, everything has changed and Walgreens is doing very little business. There are so many abandoned Walgreens now. In the stores that are open, you might see 1 or 2 cashiers, but that is it.

What would it take to go back to a time when life was so carefree and fun? How did we get to here?

[HCal]

What would it take to go back to a time when life was so carefree and fun?

Getting rid of Amazon and Walmart might do it

I know people like to look back at the "good old days" with rose-colored glasses, but the fact is that life was more difficult back then. People didn't have the convenience of online shopping, or even necessarily a big box store to go to. In an urban area like San Francisco, overpriced pharmacy chains might have been the best place to buy general merchandise.

[buckguy]

What would it take to go back to a time when life was so carefree and fun?

Getting rid of Amazon and Walmart might do it

I know people like to look back at the "good old days" with rose-colored glasses, but the fact is that life was more difficult back then. People didn't have the convenience of online shopping, or even necessarily a big box store to go to. In an urban area like San Francisco, overpriced pharmacy chains might have been the best place to buy general merchandise.

Walgreens stocks more GM lines than CVS or RiteAid and despite flat/declining sales, their stores aren't necessarily ghost towns.

Nostalgia is basically a corruption of history. The GM selections go back to when drug stores, esp. chain drug stores were the only businesses open late every night and were exempt from Blue Laws on Sundays. They benefited from the decline of variety stores but they've been cutting back on this kind of stuff for decades, esp. lines that themselves have been in decline like cards, stationary, and magazines. People sucked up the high prices because it was convenient.

Drug stores in the US have always had odd bits of non-drug business because of circumstance or opportunity---like having refrigeration when others didn't, so they sold ice cream and built up soda fountains, but those businesses didn't necessarily hold up over time, either. Walgreen is willing to try different things---when drug store luncheonettes lost business to fast food, they branched into coffee shops which worked for awhile. They've been in and out of the liquor business in a fairly big way.

[veteran+]

What would it take to go back to a time when life was so carefree and fun?

Getting rid of Amazon and Walmart might do it

I know people like to look back at the "good old days" with rose-colored glasses, but the fact is that life was more difficult back then. People didn't have the convenience of online shopping, or even necessarily a big box store to go to. In an urban area like San Francisco, overpriced pharmacy chains might have been the best place to buy general merchandise.

Walgreens stocks more GM lines than CVS or RiteAid and despite flat/declining sales, their stores aren't necessarily ghost towns.

Nostalgia is basically a corruption of history. The GM selections go back to when drug stores, esp. chain drug stores were the only businesses open late every night and were exempt from Blue Laws on Sundays. They benefited from the decline of variety stores but they've been cutting back on this kind of stuff for decades, esp. lines that themselves have been in decline like cards, stationary, and magazines. People sucked up the high prices because it was convenient.

Drug stores in the US have always had odd bits of non-drug business because of circumstance or opportunity---like having refrigeration when others didn't, so they sold ice cream and built up soda fountains, but those businesses didn't necessarily hold up over time, either. Walgreen is willing to try different things---when drug store luncheonettes lost business to fast food, they branched into coffee shops which worked for awhile. They've been in and out of the liquor business in a fairly big way.

"Nostalgia is basically a corruption of history."

Eruditely expressed!