An official with Walgreens is responding to a request from Rochester’s mayor about the pending closure of several drugstores in the area.
Robb Brown, Vice President, Integration Management Office for Walgreens, wrote to Mayor Malik Evans on Friday assuring him that the drugstore chain will support the city’s efforts to fill the store vacancies when they happen with either another pharmacy or some other type of community health service.
That’s after the mayor this week said that he and members of his staff met with representatives of Walgreen’s and expressed outrage about store closing decisions which Evans said will have a disproportionate impact on three of the five poorest zip codes in the state.
Evans said that he asked Walgreens for their full cooperation regarding the properties that will be vacated and that the company doesn’t try to interfere with efforts to recruit new pharmacies to those locations.
In his letter on Friday, Brown said that “Walgreens is pleased to support these efforts,” and said that the company has spoken to the landlord who owns the property at 792 W. Main Street, which is one of the stores slated for closure next month.
Brown said they reminded the property owner that there are no restrictions that Walgreens is imposing and encouraged her to work with city officials. He said that Walgreens knows the W. Main Street location was of particular interest to the mayor, but they are also working with landlords of the four other local stores that are closing in November to ensure there are no unintended barriers for future recruitment of new tenants.
Besides the W. Main Street location, other stores being closed locally next month include one at 564 Monroe Ave. in the city, 1490 Lake Ave. in the city, a store on Pattonwood Drive in Irondequoit and another at 3122 Monroe Ave. in Pittsford.
In his recent letter, the Walgreens vice president reiterated the reasons the chain is closing some stores, including increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures.
