Ingleside’s Walgreens Is Set To Close. What’s To Be Done?

Ingleside residents won’t have a drugstore anymore come late February.

Walgreens announced last week that it would close 12 San Francisco locations in late February, including the one on Ocean Avenue at Faxon. The long-struggling pharmacy store chain announced plans in October to close 1,200 stores over three years.

Walgreens, which did not respond to The Ingleside Light’s query, told one local press outlet the upcoming closures were due to costs from “increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures” that affect business costs like rent, staffing and supplies.

While no employees at the Ingleside store were authorized to speak to the press, many longtime customers had a lot to say about the loss of the neighborhood’s last pharmacy and convenience store, sharing concern for the employees, the absence of a neighborhood pharmacy and fear over another prominent vacancy dragging down the vibrancy of the corridor. And city officials and community leaders are already in talks over what to do about the closures.

Natalie Crawford, an employee at nearby Expert Pet, has been a Walgreens customer for years.

“It’s sad,” Crawford said. “It’s just a Walgreens but it’s more than that.”

That sentiment was shared by many residents who frequented the store for medication, food or home goods. But the lead question was where will pharmacy needs be met.

“I’m curious whether they’ll be able to open something similar in its place,” Michelle X. said. “We frequently shop here and it’s helpful for vaccinations.”

Peter Tham, a leader in the Ingleside Merchants Association and principal of Loc Tham Group Real Estate, said it’s awful that “another large vacant space is being added to Ocean Avenue and there doesn't appear to be a solution in sight.”

“I feel terrible for the staff, some of which have been there for years,” Tham said. “While they are employees of a large corporation, they still have deep relationships in our neighborhoods.”

Not long ago, the neighborhood had three pharmacies within three blocks. In 2016, there was a Target, CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens. The CVS closed in 2017 and Target followed in 2021. The CVS space is still vacant today and the Target space is slated to be a dialysis clinic.

Neighbors, Merchants Want Vacant Target, CVS Spaces Filled

The search for tenants to fill the neighborhood’s two anchor storefronts is underway. Merchants and neighbors said they can’t arrive soon enough.

The Ingleside LightDavid Mamaril Horowitz

Tham wants the city will create grants to encourage the opening of small businesses along Ocean Avenue similar to the Downtown-exclusive Vacant to Vibrant program and the SF Vibrancy Loan & Grant Fund.

Government Intervention

The impending closures have not gone unnoticed by City Hall.

The Office of Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development told The Ingleside Light that they stand ready to partner with businesses that want to invest in the city to make sure San Francisco’s communities can live healthy lives. No specifics were provided.

The Ocean Avenue Walgreens sits on the border of supervisor District 7 and District 11.

District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar’s office is urging federal, state and local agencies to develop a strategy to address the national crisis in pharmacy closures.

“These closures are irresponsible and speak to the larger issue of how healthcare access and equity have only diminished,” Melgar said. “These companies rapidly expanded putting local pharmacies and other retailers out of business only to callously abandon our residents and neighborhood-serving corridors. Ocean Avenue is on the upswing and we will work with our partners to fill this space swiftly.”

Walgreens pharmacy customers will have to travel to West Portal, Geneva Avenue and Stonestown for medication. Melgar’s office had urged Walgreens to postpone the Ocean Avenue closure to allow patients more time to transfer prescriptions, a lesson learned from the Lakeside Village Walgreens closure in 2021.

District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen said her staff is searching for solutions and is in conversation with other offices that have been impacted by similar closures including with District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, who is introducing a resolution urging Walgreens to reconsider the closures and that she has signed on to in support.

“These stores and pharmacies are anchors in the commercial corridors and serve so many in my district, especially seniors,” Chen said, adding that her office will also work with the Ocean Avenue Association to fill the vacancy.

Christian Martin heads up the Ocean Avenue Association, a community benefit district authorized by City Hall to maintain and improve the area with assessment funds from benefitting property owners.

“We’ll work with the supervisors to recruit and hopefully retain another community-serving business, preferably a drugstore because there’s a big hole since the CVS and Walgreens are gone now,” Martin said.

The association will continue keeping the storefront clean and work with the city and property owner to find a tenant, protect the expansive mural on its side and continue holding events on the property’s parking lot.

Martin said roughly 10% of the storefronts along Ingleside's Ocean Avenue are vacant.

Very few vacant Walgreens locations in San Francisco have found tenants, according to a recent report. For instance, the former Walgreens location in OceanView Village is still vacant. However, the one in Lakeside Village is now a church.