Retail Watchers

Does Walgreens typically keep non-descript buildings when they buy out smaller pharmacies? I've never seen one like this anywhere else. I've heard of them taking smaller pharmacies and moving their prescriptions over to their locations, but this tiny green-roofed building with white WALGREENS letters on the side seems to go against their march toward being a convenience store as much as a pharmacy. Is this a one-off?

Until they built one of their own stores, a location in my hometown was a small store with basically a pharmacy counter after they bought out the independent that was located there.

This looks a little bit like it may be a specialty pharmacy or really in a community where they want to keep the pharmacy side but the front end doesn't make sense to locate and build out a new store nearby. Then again, I didn't think it made sense where they did in my hometown and eventually they did.

That looks very similar to some of the original California builds which were usually on gas station corners. They probably had some sort of signage and/or architectural restrictions in this location. It also looks very suspiciously like a former bank.

It looks like Walgreens has been running this thing for about the past 8 years.

What is interesting is Laramie is where Rite Aid had its lone WY store which was a former Payless/Osco. It closed in the early 00's.

ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 25th, 2024, 7:33 pm That looks very similar to some of the original California builds which were usually on gas station corners. They probably had some sort of signage and/or architectural restrictions in this location. It also looks very suspiciously like a former bank.

It was built as a local pharmacy from the ground up.

storewanderer wrote: ↑March 25th, 2024, 10:41 pm It looks like Walgreens has been running this thing for about the past 8 years.

What is interesting is Laramie is where Rite Aid had its lone WY store which was a former Payless/Osco. It closed in the early 00's.

Was that the store on 15th and Spring Creek?

Another interesting thought regarding this topic is that one of the Walgreens stores in Taylor, MI, is basically their typical store type but it's part of a strip mall, and this one was acquired almost 10 years ago from the independent that originally opened this store. Walgreens even remodeled it inside and outside when they bought it:

They have these in scattered places and they probably recognize some sort of location advantage.

There's one I regularly pass on Van Aken Blvd in Shaker Heights, Ohio. It's part of a strip that went up in the early 50s. It's probably the very short-lived Krogerthat became other businesses including a camping store up until about 20 years ago. It's a prime location near a 6 way intersection and the end of a rapid transit line. The area recently was redeveloped with a mixed use complex that seems to be doing well. There is a Rite Aid in a modern street corner location not far away, so it wouldn't have been impossible to build such a store in the area---that replaced a Gray Drug that was in another strip. It's not the best location at that intersection and although it's always clean and neat, also never seems to have many customers.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1 ... 1360-h1020