Another Walgreens Scheduled for Closure in Rochester

Walgreens store located at 814 W. Main Street, Rochester - photo google images

Less than two years after closing their Thurston Road store, Walgreens has announced another store closing in the 19th Ward.

Citing profitability as a main concern, the pharmacy chain recently announced they will be closing their West Main Street store bringing Walgreens presence in Rochester to three stores.

“Our retail pharmacy business is central to our go-forward business strategy. However, increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures are weighing on our ability to serve our patients profitably. We’ve reached a point where the current pharmacy model is not sustainable and the challenges in our operating environment require that we approach the market differently,” the company said in a statement.

Rochester Mayor Malik Evans is demanding that the drug store chain immediately halt their closure plans.

“Walgreens’ intention to continue this history of disinvestment in yet another of Rochester’s densely populated, majority-minority neighborhoods is deeply disturbing and patently outrageous, as it comes less than two years after the closure of the Walgreens store at 670 Thurston Road, an area with similar demographic and historic characteristics,” Mayor Evans wrote in an open letter to Tim Wentworth, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance.

“With these closures, Walgreens will render Rochester’s entire southwest quadrant a medical desert, with residents denied full and convenient access to the lifesaving, health-preserving medications and medical supplies found in a traditional drug store,” the Mayor continued. “I will remind you that minority populations like those in these neighborhoods disproportionately struggle with a myriad of healthcare challenges compounded by limited access to transportation.

Evans has offered to meet with Walgreens representatives citing a $500 million ongoing investment the city is making in the Bulls Head Revitalization Project and the expansion of the St. Mary’s Medical Campus as reasons for optimism.

“The City also anticipates that the Bulls Head Neighborhood is destined to experience substantial organic investment due to its proximity to Downtown Rochester, the fastest-growing district in the nine-county Rochester Combined Statistical Area, with ongoing investments totaling more than $1 billion,” he said.