Closures and reduced pharmacy hours at drug stores in the Bay Area have left customers scrambling to find places to get their prescriptions filled.
Richmond’s Walgreens on 1150 Macdonald Ave. in the Iron Triangle neighborhood is closing on Jan. 30, and prescriptions will be transferred to the store at 13691 San Pablo Ave., the company said. It’s a blow for the already struggling downtown business district, which local boosters are aiming to revive.
Sarah Wally, interim executive director of the Richmond Main Street Initiative, said they’ll work with the building owners and property managers at the site, which is part of a small shopping center anchored by Foods Co., to discuss the type of business that would be a good fit for the high-visibility corner location.
“With the commercial zoning, lots of parking and Macdonald (Avenue) frontage, many retail and service businesses could find a great home in this space,” Wally said in an email to Richmondside.
She said the building owner is already having discussions with businesses potentially interested in leasing the space.
Walgreens not alone in retail pharmacy struggles
CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid have all announced cutbacks in hours and closures as the industry refocuses on online delivery. This has left many pharmacists and staff in East Bay cities overwhelmed and under-scheduled and their customers waiting in long lines at the remaining pharmacies.
Customers are clearly fed up, if online ratings are any indication. The Richmond Walgreens that’s closing has a 1.9 star rating on Google. The store at 13691 San Pablo Ave. has 2.9 stars, with one reviewer writing:
“Absolutely every time I go to pick up my medication there’s an issue despite my doctor calling it in multiple times. They even have the audacity to say the Walgreens pharmacy app doesn’t have anything to do with their own system. So when I see my refill on the app, they can just say nope, it’s not here. Also, none of the techs seem to want to actually help the patients, they just want to get you out of their face as quickly as possible. I never even write reviews anymore but this place is the worst place to be treated like an actual human being.”
John Frahm, secretary-treasurer of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5, said that out of the 75 CVS stores they represent, seven or eight locations shuttered since the end of last year in multiple Bay Area counties.
CVS, which announced in November 2021 the closure of 900 brick-and-mortar stores starting in spring 2022, declined to discuss the recent closures in an email. Richmond currently has two CVS locations: One on Meeker and one at the Target on 4500 Macdonald Ave.
According to Walgreens and CVS websites, controlled medications, such as some pain and ADHD drugs, require a customer to pick them up at a physical pharmacy.
Richmond does have one independent pharmacy, Central Pharmacy at 2300 Macdonald Ave., which gets 4.5 stars on Yelp, with one customer, Nix B., saying: “This is by far the best pharmacy experience I’ve ever had, and it’s consistent. I will never go anywhere else so long as it’s available to me. They are the kindest people who work there and pick up the phone direct when you call. They work with you to get what you need from your doctor. They seem to know everyone who walks in, or they make it a point to do so. It’s a little bit of a bummer that they are closed on weekends but their customer service and efficiency make up for that. They are completely unmatched. I wish all businesses where like this one.”
Labor shortages to blame, spokesperson says
“What we are seeing in some areas is consistent with what many other healthcare entities have been experiencing — staffing challenges due to the ongoing national labor shortage,” Kris Lathan, a spokesperson for Walgreens, wrote in an email. “We continue to take steps to help mitigate these pressures, however, there are some instances where we’ve had to adjust or reduce pharmacy operating hours as we work to balance staffing and resources in the market to best meet customer demand.”
Lathan did not provide a total of store closures, but added: “Our focus is creating the right network of retail pharmacy stores in the right locations that are best tailored to meet the needs of local communities.”
In September, the CVS in Emeryville on San Pablo Avenue permanently closed, leaving the city with one CVS pharmacy — located inside a Target. There are currently two CVS stores in Richmond: 4500 Macdonald Ave., inside the Target store, and 2151 Meeker Ave.
Frahm said workers displaced by the pharmacy closures were successfully transferred to other locations.
Job safety is a concern
In October, a sign posted on the sliding door of Walgreens on Gilman Avenue in Berkeley directed customers to the Adeline Street Walgreens or the only 24-hour Walgreens in Alameda three miles away. Inside, a pharmacy staffer turned people away, telling them two of their druggists had recently quit and the pharmacy was temporarily closed. It closed for several days but has since reopened.
“We cannot legally open without pharmacists,” the staffer said, declining to give their name.
State pharmacy regulations require drugs to be dispensed by a physician, pharmacist or “other person lawfully authorized to dispense drugs ….”
There is currently only one Rite Aid in Oakland and none in Richmond, Emeryville or Berkeley.
Due to recent robberies at pharmacies, Local 5 built into their most recent contract with CVS a requirement for higher staffing levels in the evenings.
Though CVS stopped scheduling pharmacists when the staffing levels were too low to be safe after Local 5 filed a grievance, Frahm said they reduced working hours, leaving workers part-time when they could be working up to 40 hours a week.
Pharmacies will likely continue to close as retail pharmacies focus on delivery and online options.
“What I think they miss is that a lot of seniors and low-income folks don’t do delivery, and they have a vital function for neighborhoods that is beyond maximizing profit,” Frahm said. “To be a responsible business includes catering to those who have greater needs and they clearly are not looking to cater to those folks.”
Kathleen Quinn is a graduate student at UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism. Richmondside editor Kari Hulac and freelance writer David Mills contributed to this story.
