The entrance to the Walgreens at 1189 Potrero Ave. has been partially boarded up since a car rammed into the store last November. Soon, it will be boarded up for good: The store will permanently close on Feb. 26.
The drugstore is the only full-service pharmacy near Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which is one block away, and a go-to for residents in the Mission and Potrero Hill. It is one of 12 Walgreens stores in San Francisco that will close next month.
The move appears to be final.
“Our office met with a representative from Walgreens, and was informed that these closures are final, with no room for negotiation to secure an extension,” said District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, in a statement that noted the store will “strive to retain most employees.”
The Potrero location falls within District 10, Walton’s district, as does another location slated to close at 5300 Third St. The closures will leave Bayview without a single pharmacy. The closest is at 2494 San Bruno Ave.
“It’s very concerning for District 10, because they’re going to be totally isolated from any pharmacy,” said Tracy Gallardo, a legislative aide to Walton and a Mission resident. “You are really abandoning this neighborhood.”
“This decision disproportionately affects low-income residents, seniors and individuals with limited mobility, who rely on these locations for lifesaving prescriptions and affordable health products,” Walton’s statement continued.
The Potrero Avenue location has had its fair share of trouble. Namely, the November 2024 car crash that destroyed its facade, along with a retail crime spree. Like other pharmacies, many items at the store are kept behind locked doors, a move that has purportedly cost the company in sales, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
But the planned closure follows Walgreens’ decision to close 1,200 stores nationwide, announced last October for reasons unrelated to retail theft.
“Increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures are weighing on our ability to cover the costs associated with rent, staffing and supply needs,” said a spokesperson for Walgreens, in an email regarding the Potrero Avenue Walgreens closure.
The Potrero store’s manager declined to comment on the closure, or discuss what will happen to the store’s 40 employees. All prescriptions will be transferred to the Walgreens at 2690 Mission St., a mile away. It is the closest Walgreens, unless customers specify another location.
Customers of the location conceded that theft had been a problem, but nonetheless, the closure means filling prescriptions will not be as convenient.
“I don’t blame them, not at all,” said Marlyn, a nurse who was taking a patient to San Francisco General Hospital. She said she used to frequent the pharmacy, but stopped going after she witnessed a second burglary at the store. “It’s not safe.”
“It’s a big inconvenience for a lot of people,” said one customer who was entering the store to inquire about moving her prescriptions. She lives in San Bruno, but comes to the Potrero location to receive her prescriptions, as it is next to the hospital.
Two hospital staff, who were walking into the hospital, were surprised to learn about the closure. “We send people there all the time!” one said.
“We’re sad,” added Aracely, another Walgreens customer, in Spanish. She said she is particularly disappointed because she trusts the staff at the Potrero store. “What can we do?”
Here are the other Walgreens closing across San Francisco:
- 1201 Taraval St.
- 3201 Divisadero St.
- 1363 Divisadero St.
- 825 Market St.
- 1750 Noriega St.
- 5280 Geary Blvd.
- 1524 Polk St.
- 1301 Franklin St.
- 1189 Potrero Ave.
- 135 Powell St.
- 1630 Ocean Ave.
- 5300 Third St.
Even though I live a 5 minute walk from this Walgreens, I haven’t been there in a decade. I walk 20-30 minutes to one of the Walgreens on Mission instead. I just couldn’t take another encounter in the pharmacy line with folks that are mentally disturbed, addicts, and/or incredibly stinky.
Walgreens is closing its stores in what we used to be able to call “bad neighborhoods” but apparently we no longer can. Its suburban stores are not so affected.
The good news is that Amazon will deliver prescription drugs to your door same day. That might explain why Walgreens stock price has gone from $60 to $10 in the last few years, and why it was kicked out of the DJIA in 2024.
As long as we continue to prioritize criminals over law-abiding citizens, this will keep happening.
It’s instructive to visit a Walgreen’s outside SF. They don’t have to lock up every item.
At least we voted out Chesa “My parents were terrorists!” Boudin. But the “police are the real bad guys” crowd still gets way too much attention in SF.
I’ve been watching this location suck for the last two decades. “Walgreen’s can’t even run a pharmacy next to a hospital” is my takeaway.
Sad for the employees, but not surprised.
Walgreens – “Surrounded by Thieves” as the song goes. Walgreens and pharmacies in general have been losing money in the pharmacy department – the insurance reimbursements are not covering costs. Think rent-seeking health care administrators who squeeze pharmacies with low/inadequate reimbursements.
So they’re left keeping locations afloat with drug store sales in the isles. Sales have gone down though while operating costs and theft have gone up. These security guards they need to keep around these days don’t work for free. End of the story: Locations closing, and you start with high prescription volume/lowest sales/highest theft locations as these hurt the bottom line the most. Now, while locally we can’t do much about the reimbursement issue, it is certainly under our control to crack down on retail theft, fencing and sidewalk vendors.
So there’s our choice.
Sad, but true. We’re seeing the fallout from our disrespect and even disdain for law enforcement and our unwillingness to prosecute crime. That’s at the core of the matter. Unless we clamp down seriously on retail theft and fail to keep our streets and communities safe, vendors will leave and new businesses will seek other cities in which they can serve their customers in a safe and orderly fashion. Very hopeful for a determined, common sense, and caring new administration. Time to “turn the page.” It didn’t woke.
I’d feel worse for them if they hadn’t made bank on selling opioids for so long and contributed to their own theft problem.
In order to cover their mistakes in adjusting their retail strategies in a vastly changed market, they overemphasized theft.
Absolutely, there is theft. No one disputes it. It is not the full story.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/Is-shoplifting-forcing-Walgreens-to-cut-back-in-16536960.php
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/06/business/walgreens-shoplifting-retail/index.html
Don’t forget about the role Walgreens played in the opioid crisis, that feels pretty relevant here too, even though the article failed to mention it.
Thank you Jerry Brown for starting this with Prop 47. Look it up.
San Francisco needs to treat the closure of brick and mortar corporate pharmacies and groceries like the public health emergency that it is.
The City needs to leverage SFGH’s internal pharmacy to create a pharmacy cooperative to replace vanishing Walgreens and a food cooperative to respond to Safeway’s creation of food deserts.
We have a Community Land Trust. Now it is time for the City to create a community food trust and a community med trust.
Stop spreading the lie about Walgreens Retail Theft. The CEO in 2023 admitted it was a lie / overblown. You link to an article in SF Standard that is a press release from SFPD. Continuing to perpetuate the lie is not journalism. It is PR for Walgreens.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/05/walgreens-may-have-overstated-theft-concerns.html
Has everyone already forgotten about the role Walgreens played in the opioid crisis? I don’t understand how you can do a story on Walgreens without mentioning that. Fuck. Walgreens.
In terms of alternative transport options, the 24 connects ZSFG and the BART station at 24th Street and Mission (a block from the nearest Walgreens), and the 9 connects ZSFG to the Walgreens on San Bruno Ave.
The Bayview Shuttle is also a (currently free) option to get to the BART station and San Bruno Ave.
I think you mean the 48 bus………it also takes you up to the Noe Valley Walgreens
It’s sad to see a pharmacy (err, convenience store) go, but I hope the land sells, and we get six stories of mixed-income housing with small, neighborhood-serving retail.
Walgreens wild (over) expansion the past years worked as they drove out competition. Now to better serve their profit margins they’re closing numerous stores, many with leases signed well into the 2030s. And who pays the price of inconvenience for all these shenanigans? You and me, comrade, you and me.
US Walgreens Boots Alliance isn’t losing money in the pharmacy department.
I googled ‘Walgreens earnings call 2025’ and found that info quickly, if you want to give it a whirl.