Walgreen Co.: Nothing ‘super’ about future Porter Square store
A man passes construction Thursday for a Walgreens coming to Porter Square. (Photo: Marc Levy)
The Walgreens coming to Porter Square won’t be so super after all, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
While the two-story location coming to the 1 Porter Square plaza was described as a “Super Walgreens” of 21,000 square feet that, based on other such stores, could have “groceries, extensive cosmetics and aisles of prepared food such as sushi [as well as its] own hair and nail salon,” Walgreen Co. spokesman Robert Elfinger said he wasn’t even aware of the “super” designation.
Further, the company has the site listed at 13,237 square feet — smaller than what Elfinger called the typical 14,500-square-foot Walgreens. And though it was expected to have pharmacy, grocery and “health and daily living” wares, no sushi, salons or other uses were listed for the site.
The store, which is expected to open this coming spring or summer after forcing out a Pier 1 Imports in late September, also isn’t listed as a 24-hour store, Elfinger said.
The site is across the street from a 24-hour Shaw’s grocery store and 24-hour CVS pharmacy.
How exactly do you make money when you are right across the street from a 24-hour CVS and Shaw’s? I like to have choices but frankly, I don’t find chain drugstores to be all that different from one another. Is this a strategic competitive move for Walgreen? I just don’t see how it could be profit-making with a CVS at every corner already (and the occasional Rite Aid). What am I missing?