Thursday, September 10, 2015

Walgreens Out Cold in Sandy Springs

Aerial photo from LoopNet property listing 
Sandy Springs location closed as part of overall store reduction 

Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens Boots Alliance has closed its freestanding Walgreens location on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. The drugstore, adjacent to Marshalls Plaza (where Marshalls is no longer a tenant), was located at the corner of Roswell Road and Vernon Woods Drive since opening in 2009.  There is another freestanding Walgreens about 2.5 miles north on Roswell Road as well as two others a few miles south on Roswell, in Buckhead.  

I called the phone number of the Walgreens and reached a recording indicating that prescriptions have been transferred to the Publix at Abernathy Square.  According to a Walgreens spokesperson, the store closed as of July 29th.

A drive by the business yesterday showed that although the store is closed, they are still selling store fixtures.  

A freestanding CVS Pharmacy remains open across the street. 

The 13,650 square foot building is equipped with a drive-thru lane and sits on 1.89 acres.  According to a sales flyer from LoopNet, the property is being offered for sale for $2.85 million. 

The store closure is part of Walgreens' previously announced plan to close 200 stores in an effort to save $1.5 billion in expenses over the next three years.  Walgreens operates over 8,000 stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Walgreens has realized that in some markets they overbuilt, and the reductions are an effort to eliminate underperorming stores while driving traffic, and hopefully profitability, to stronger locations.  

Freestanding buildings such as this Walgreens are popular with other retailers who are able to repurpose the building. Among those I've most frequently seen occupy former drugstores are Dollar General, Family Dollar, AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts.  

Aside from Walgreens, Atlanta is littered with former Revco, Eckerd and CVS Pharmacy locations converted into other businesses.

Walgreens does have two other metro area locations in the works.  One, a repurposed building downtown, the Olympia Building ,and another, a multi purpose, two story building that will house the pharmacy on the lower level on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven.

Are you surprised that this Walgreens locations was "underperforming?" What would you like to see open in place of the Walgreens in Sandy Springs?  Are you excited for the downtown and Brookhaven store openings?  

Please share your thoughts below.  

7 comments:

Carl said...

I noticed this a few weeks ago and figured their new location to the north had simply replaced this one. Interesting that they transferred Rx to a competitor. I definitely never experienced this as a busy store. This particular corner lacks vibrancy.

Anonymous said...

"Are you excited for the downtown and Brookhaven store openings? "

Even though I'm nearing the age when drug stores will likely become a bigger part of my routine, I can honestly say I have never neen 'excited' by a new drug store.

Interestingly, I worked in the building that was demolished for the Brookhaven Walgreens. The building was purchased by Walgreens about 2008-9. The company I worked for shared the building with Keller Williams. Both companies paid rent to Walgreens until each moved to separate locations in 2011 (or 12). My office overlooked Peachtree and Hastings Nursery. Those were good times. I believe the new Walgreens and offices will add to the corner usefulness. But the traffic is already constipated in that area due to cut-trough traffic on Colonial and too many curb cuts to accompdate Cherokee Plaza, Starbucks, Subway, whatever goes in on west side of Peachtree and of course the Walgreens. Oh well, people will find a way to adapt - or not.

Anonymous said...

Is that a south-bound funeral in the photo?

All Evolve said...

It looks like it's just a line of traffic due to the right lane being closed. You can see the cones if you look closely.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know if there is a published list showing all the upcoming closures?

vespajet said...

In some places, Walgreens has definitely overbuilt, and there's no better example of this than on the Strip in Las Vegas. Right now Walgreens has on a 3 mile or so stretch of Las Vegas Blvd. six locations, all of them on the same side of the street. I doubt any of these will be targeted for closing, as there's obviously enough business to justify operating that many locations in such short distance. Along this same stretch, CVS has three locations and is currently building a fourth one.

Anonymous said...

Too many drug stores? Who knew?!?!?

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