Alderman Yancy of the 5th Ward Holds Meeting About Walgreen’s Closure

Fifth Ward Alderman Desmon Yancy speaking to residents of South Shore during a meeting to discuss next steps in the wake of the impending closure of Walgreen’s on 71st and Jeffery. Photo by Tia Carol Jones
Fifth Ward Alderman Desmon Yancy speaking to residents of South Shore during a meeting to discuss next steps in the wake of the impending closure of Walgreen’s on 71st and Jeffery. Photo by Tia Carol Jones

Alderman Yancy of the 5th Ward Holds Meeting About Walgreen’s Closure

By Tia Carol Jones

South Shore residents gathered at Bryn Mawr Community Church to receive information about the impending closure of the Walgreen’s on 71st and Jeffery. The  Fifth Ward Alderman Desmon Yancy and Executive Director of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce Tonya Trice spoke to the residents about the next steps and received feedback about what they would like to see in the space next.

While Walgreen’s owns the building, seven families own the lot. Walgreen’s has sole power in determining what goes into the space, because of the terms of the lease. Yancy proposed an ordinance to rezone the space currently occupied by Walgreen’s from commercial to residential. But, he said there are zero plans to build housing at that location.

In January of this year, Walgreen’s announced that it would close the location at 71st and Jeffery. The chain had already closed the location at 79th and Jeffery in 2024. It was important for Yancy to get people in the room to talk about how to move forward. Yancy said the 71st and Jeffery Walgreen’s location lost around “$600,000 worth of merchandise in 2023 and when he heard about the 79th and Jeffery location closing, he knew the 71st Street location was on the chopping block.  Yancy acknowledged that senior citizens in the community use the location to fill their prescriptions and purchase other items. 

“I knew it would be a loss to the community, so the question for me was, ‘how do we make sure we don’t have another vacant building at 71st and Jeffery for six years,” Yancy said, referencing the closing of the Dominick’s in 2013 and the Local Market opening in its place in 2019.

Yancy said last fall, there were community safety meetings with business owners, residents and the Chicago Police Department’s 3rd District to figure out how to clean up 71st Street. The South Shore Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tonya Trice said that while the closing of the Walgreen’s is a significant blow to the community, South Shore is a resilient community. She was confident that the community would be able to find a new tenant for the Walgreen’s site.

Trice said the Chamber is looking to bring in new tenants and businesses into the community, as well as activations and plans for vacant lots, through capital initiatives. She said the development initiatives the Chamber is embarking on is significant because the plans would generate interest and investment. Trice said the Chamber wants to bring businesses into the community that the residents want, businesses that will fill the void that will come once the Walgreen’s closes.

“We don’t want a pharmacy desert in this community, but we also want to attract something that will serve everybody in every age group in this community,” she said.

Trice said the goal of having a Walgreens Initiative is to urge the chain store to work with the community. She said the community wants to have a say, because the community has provided feedback about what it wants through surveys, studies, plans and community meetings.

“It is time now that we provide businesses that will solve the demands and needs of the residents of the South Shore community, but we will not be able to get that unless we all work together,” she said.

Residents voiced feedback that they wanted a community center, a sit-down restaurant, as well as asking if a pharmacy could be placed in the Local Market grocery store. Residents were adamant that they did not want a Dollar Tree.

The 71st and Jeffery location is set to close between now and Feb. 27th. In a statement, Walgreen’s said, “Our retail pharmacy business is central to our go-forward business strategy. However, increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures are weighing on our ability to cover the costs associated with rent, staffing, and supply needs. It is never an easy decision to close a store. We know that our stores are important to the communities that we serve, and therefore do everything possible to improve the store performance. When closures are necessary, like those here in Chicago, we will work in partnership with community stakeholders to minimize customer disruptions. We intend to redeploy the majority of our team members from those stores that we close.”

Community residents looking for more information can email info@southshorechamberinc.org.


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