The Walgreens, located at 2727 W. North Ave. in the Midtown neighborhood, has officially closed.
The announcement of the June 23 closure was made by a Walgreens spokesperson in early May.
“Despite our actions and investments in private security, persistent safety challenges at our North Avenue store do not allow us to operate sustainably,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Journal Sentinel.
“We are grateful to our customers and neighbors who have relied on this store and are committed to making the transition as seamless as possible.”
The closure comes a year and a half after the Illinois-based company announced it planned to close about 1,200 underperforming stores across the U.S. over a three-year period due to declining profits. Walgreens said the decline in profits stems from low drug reimbursement rates and slow retail sales.
The Midtown location is the eighth Walgreens store to close in Milwaukee since 2023.
Many residents of the Midtown neighborhood and nearby Amani, Lindsey Heights, Metcalfe Park, Sherman Park, Walnut Hill and Washington Park neighborhoods have come to rely on the pharmacy after the loss of the Pick ‘n Save on North 35th Street last July.
Lindsey Heights resident Lucille Holmes told the Journal Sentinel at a Hayat Pharmacy prescription transfer event earlier this month that while she’s been a customer of the Walgreens store for “forever,” the location “should have been closed,” citing inventory and staffing shortages.
Hayat Pharamcy, a locally owned chain with 14 locations in Milwaukee, is the only remaining pharmacy in the immediate area.
Customers of the shuttered Midtown Walgreens will have their prescriptions automatically transferred to the Miller Valley location at 3522 W. Wisconsin Ave., approximately two miles away.
Patients will be eligible for free prescription delivery for 90 days from the closure date, according to the statement.
April Quevedo covers Metcalfe Park for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact: aquevedo@usatodayco.com.
Neighborhood Dispatch reporting is supported by Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Journal Foundation, Bader Philanthropies, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Walgreens closes Midtown location, the eighth shuttered in three years
Reporting by April Quevedo, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By April Quevedo, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
