Walgreens Rxpress

Moderator: Groceteria

Post Reply
User avatar
submariner
Veteran
Posts: 258
Joined: 01 Jul 2007 02:13
Location: Orange County, CA

Walgreens Rxpress

Post by submariner »

Since moving to Orange County, I've noticed that Walgreens has apparently kept some of their pharmacy-only locations (though very few). Some background:

In the heady days of the mid-90s, the Los Angeles area drugstore scene was dominated by Sav•On and Thrifty. CVS' smaller stores had all but disappeared by this time, as SoCal shoppers were accustomed to larger drugstores with more variety.

About 1994 or 1995, Walgreens decided to test the waters by opening several (read: tons) of very small, pharmacy-only stores called Walgreens Rxpress. These introduced the concept of the drive-thru pharmacy (at lease en masse) to SoCal shoppers.

I left California in the summer of 1995, and at some point, Walgreens decided to open full-range stores. Most locations were on an adjacent or nearby parcel of land to the Rxpress locations. The smaller stores by-and-large were not demolished, but usually were leased out to anyone from restaurants to payday advance outlets.

Apparently, some rare stores remain in their original purpose, now called "Walgreens Pharmacy". Harbor Blvd & Chapman in Garden Grove (on the out-lot of the Fedmart-turned-Target), keeping the ties to the mid-90s experiment that Walgreens conducted in LA and Orange Counties.

Image
Walgreens Rxpress by dirtyblueshirt, on Flickr
==========
Aaron
"his foxtail-wielding skills are unparalleled, dust bunnies fear his name"
Post Reply