CVS is closing 900 stories nationwide, including some in San Francisco

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by JManc

There are a couple of CVS's downtown Houston with no parking but that's it. Everywhere else they are surrounded by a sea of parking and a long ass line at the drive-thru.

Please please please close Montrose Blvd @ Richmond Ave and Waugh Drive @ W. Dallas Street!

[Busy Bee]

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Corporate desire for plentiful parking does not automatically equal this front facing and wraparound parking format that so often gets built. In an urban environment, short of building a zero parking store, which they claim are money losers and they clearly hate except for the highest pedestrian areas, they could push the building to the sidewalk lot line, either with full plate glass glazing and an entrance in the corner with a deep galley parking lot. Architectural elements could continue along the sidewalk streetwall creating the feeling of a full building. There are ways to do it better. As someone said before, i believe the reason it's not in many cases is laziness but equally to blame is a lack of imagination.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Was Walgreens like the Woolworth's of Chicago?

Before my mom married my dad, in the 1960s (1964-1967 I believe), my mom lived in Chicago. She said that the Walgreens there had restaurants or lunch counters/soda fountains. So when the little rinky-dink Walgreens locations started popping up here in southern California (in the 90s, I think?), she mentioned that.

I wouldn't say Wahlgrens, I mean Walgreens was the "Woolworth's of Chicago" as Walgreens is a drug store and Woolworth's was a five and dime general store. But it was obviously a different era when chain drug stores and general stores had soda fountains and lunch counters. This was pre-fast food and diner style lunch spots and cafeterias were the quick and fast kinds of establishments to get a cheap bite to eat. Personally speaking I think its quite lamentable we lost the drug store and general store food service as well as the plethora of cafeteria and automat style establishments. Ironically i think they'd fare better nowadays versus the 70s/80s/90s when nothing was "tired" or played out yet with the big fast food chains vis a vis consumer tastes. I suppose the general store lunch counter sort of lives on with the food courts in discount stores like Target. On another personal note, I cried when I heard Woolworth's was going out of business. I was 14. Honestly I think I'd still cry.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Corporate desire for plentiful parking does not automatically equal this front facing and wraparound parking format that so often gets built. In an urban environment, short of building a zero parking store, which they claim are money losers and they clearly hate except for the highest pedestrian areas, they could push the building to the sidewalk lot line, either with full plate glass glazing and an entrance in the corner with a deep galley parking lot. Architectural elements could continue along the sidewalk streetwall creating the feeling of a full building. There are ways to do it better. As someone said before, i believe the reason it's not in many cases is laziness but equally to blame is a lack of imagination.

The reason isn't because of laziness, the reason is because CVS/Walgreens don't need to most of the time. The sole purpose of these companies is to drive shareholder value not design beautiful buildings or ped friendly buildings. It is much more cost effective to have a one-size fits all approach to design, where they know exactly the lot size they need, and can throw the buildings up in a matter of months. Stores with no parking/little parking almost certainly perform worse, that is not good for shareholders.
It is 100% on the jurisdiction to require design standards, if they so wish. In the example of Chicago, it should be expected that many stores on the fringe of the city would close and they would move into neighboring suburbs to avoid such design, if they were forced.
These businesses are driven by profit, it's really that simple.

[mhays]

Seattle changed its land use laws due to drug stores, maybe a decade ago. One wanted to build single-use locations with parking on their roofs on Lower Queen Anne and Capitol Hill -- two fairly dense areas with lots of bus lines. I don't know how they did it, but the city basically retroactively changed the code to require minimum densities. They both got built with lowrise housing on top.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Please please please close Montrose Blvd @ Richmond Ave and Waugh Drive @ W. Dallas Street!

You can thank our rocket surgeons Houston's planning department for those two abortions. The city requires excessive parking. The one at Montrose/ Richmond replaced a cool old street front building. That was a damn shame. I am sure in that area, CVS could have been convinced to build something that jived with the area better otherwise.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by JManc

You can thank our rocket surgeons Houston's planning department for those two abortions. The city requires excessive parking. The one at Montrose/ Richmond replaced a cool old street front building. That was a damn shame. I am sure in that area, CVS could have been convinced to build something that jived with the area better otherwise.

Perhaps we should sue CVS under the new Texas abortion law.

[C.]

Originally Posted by twister244

With ONE exception. The Walgreens in Wicker Park at North/Milwaukee is insane. Is that the best use for that old building? No, but it's the coolest Walgreens I have ever been in.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wa...QlkcnVnc3RvcmU

That is cool!

[C.]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Corporate desire for plentiful parking does not automatically equal this front facing and wraparound parking format that so often gets built. In an urban environment, short of building a zero parking store, which they claim are money losers and they clearly hate except for the highest pedestrian areas, they could push the building to the sidewalk lot line, either with full plate glass glazing and an entrance in the corner with a deep galley parking lot. Architectural elements could continue along the sidewalk streetwall creating the feeling of a full building. There are ways to do it better. As someone said before, i believe the reason it's not in many cases is laziness but equally to blame is a lack of imagination.

Zoning is the issue. When it comes to real estate development, it's all numbers. They don't necessary care where parking is located as long as there is enough to make the units marketable. There is no reason why they cannot develop stores next to the sidewalk and half parking in the rear with the exception of minimum setback requirements that prevents this type of development.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

CVS and Walgreens generally only build shit-tacular suburban style craporamas with fucking parking lots at prominent street intersections all over Chicago.

I say let 'em all close and get redeveloped!

Side note, many of my neighbors cheered when a local bar shut down last summer (the noise and people it attracted!). A year and a half later it is still vacant.

Sometimes the devil you know...

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by JManc

New York and parts of places like Chicago or SF can get away with that. People walk there. There are a couple of CVS's downtown Houston with no parking but that's it. Everywhere else they are surrounded by a sea of parking and a long ass line at the drive-thru.

There's a good amount of "urban" locations in LA. Hollywood, Downtown, Westwood, East Hollywood, Santa Monica, etc.

[llamaorama]

Even College Station has a CVS that's in a ground floor retail space of a high rise next to the A&M campus.

I wonder which ones are on the chopping block. I bet a lot of them with be former Eckerds stores which are sort of distinctive suburban buildings.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by LA21st

There's a good amount of "urban" locations in LA. Hollywood, Downtown, Westwood, East Hollywood, Santa Monica, etc.

Definitely.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by JManc

Definitely.

I think I read your other post incorrectly lol.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by LA21st

There's a good amount of "urban" locations in LA. Hollywood, Downtown, Westwood, East Hollywood, Santa Monica, etc.

Yeah there’s a few chain pharmacy stores in DTLA in some nice prewar buildings.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Sometimes the devil you know...

......is still just a plain old motherfucking devil.



CVS has announced it's closing 900 of its horrible rotten stores!!!!!!!!

I hope those fuckwads are planning on closing all of their shit-acular suburban crap-o-ramas in the city of Chicago!

A vacant lot is better than their lazy-ass retail dumps stinking up the joint, because at least a vacant lot can potentially get redeveloped.

But a stupid fucking Walgreens/CVS?

those cancerous tumors stick around for decades and decades and decades, like a bad case of herpes.

Fuck that shit.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

......is still just a plain old motherfucking devil.



CVS has announced it's closing 900 of its horrible rotten stores!!!!!!!!

I hope those fuckwads are planning on closing all of their shit-acular suburban crap-o-ramas in the city of Chicago!

A vacant lot is better than their lazy-ass retail dumps stinking up the joint, because at least a vacant lot can potentially get redeveloped.

But a stupid fucking Walgreens/CVS?

those cancerous tumors stick around for decades and decades and decades, like a bad case of herpes.

Fuck that shit.

CVS and Walgreen's probably don't own most of this real estate and if the pharmacies close it will be re-rented to another occupant.

This is the portfolio of just one real estate investment trust owning retail properties--one of many:


https://www.realtyincome.com/portfol...s/default.aspx

[twister244]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

......is still just a plain old motherfucking devil.



CVS has announced it's closing 900 of its horrible rotten stores!!!!!!!!

I hope those fuckwads are planning on closing all of their shit-acular suburban crap-o-ramas in the city of Chicago!

A vacant lot is better than their lazy-ass retail dumps stinking up the joint, because at least a vacant lot can potentially get redeveloped.

But a stupid fucking Walgreens/CVS?

those cancerous tumors stick around for decades and decades and decades, like a bad case of herpes.

Fuck that shit.

I hope they don't close the West Loop location on Lake Street. Is it particularly urban, unique, or pretty? No. But it doesn't have an ugly parking lot, and is at the base of a mixed-use (or office) building. I think that's the only way you are going to get any of these stores in a truly urban form, there needs to be the zoning and density to force them to build those types of stores.

Maybe the zoning in the West Loop basically prevents CVS/Walgreens from doing that. Or, maybe it's easier for them to pencil in a store at the base of a building that is being constructed as opposed to building a store on a lot. The Walgreens on Randolph is also in the same boat.

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

......is still just a plain old motherfucking devil.



CVS has announced it's closing 900 of its horrible rotten stores!!!!!!!!

I hope those fuckwads are planning on closing all of their shit-acular suburban crap-o-ramas in the city of Chicago!

A vacant lot is better than their lazy-ass retail dumps stinking up the joint, because at least a vacant lot can potentially get redeveloped.

But a stupid fucking Walgreens/CVS?

those cancerous tumors stick around for decades and decades and decades, like a bad case of herpes.

Fuck that shit.

fingers crossed for broadway and foster, arguably one of the worst offenders given its transit rich location

[bigstick]

I have never liked CVS, they are hugely expensive on most all of their products.