When Delaney White walked into the Walgreens at 23rd and Mission streets on Monday afternoon and saw only four people in line, she was happy. That was a surprisingly short line for the 5:30 p.m. rush hour, she said. Plus, two windows were open.
“It’s been bad for years,” White said of the wait time at the pharmacy located on the busy Mission Street corridor. Now it has gotten much worse, according to several customers and Walgreens employees.
Some blame long waits on the late February closure of the Walgreens on Potrero Avenue and 24th. Before it closed, the pharmacy directed its customers to the nearest branch, at 2690 Mission St. at 23rd Street.
That, and the closure of another Walgreens at Cesar Chavez and Mission in 2021, have left 2690 Mission St. the last Walgreens in the Mission. The next closest branch is at 30th and Mission streets.
As a result, Supervisor Jackie Fielder asked the city in February to produce a report to explore ways for independent and city-owned pharmacies to work together to address the gap left by Walgreens closures.
When the Potrero branch closed, it was “the worst nightmare,” one employee said. Things have improved since then as the pharmacy has become more “organized,” they added. Both employees who spoke to Mission Local declined to give their names.
White, 23, has lived in the Mission for most of her life. The worst line she’d been in, White said, wrapped all the way from the pharmacy windows to the make-up aisle on the other side of the store. She waited for about 45 minutes, she recalled.
“It gets rowdy,” she said. “A lot of yelling. People try to cut in line. There’s a whole lot of, ‘Can I speak to the manager?’”
She is considering switching to mail-order prescriptions. “There’s only this one Walgreens for so many people.”
Around 12:15 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, the situation had gotten worse. About 12 people waited in line as non-stop announcements played in the background, directing employees to come unlock the anti-theft cases in the vitamin department and other high value/small package sections of the store.
Frances, in line with her shopping cart, picks up her prescriptions once a week. She glanced back at the long line of a dozen people, and said it was pretty normal.
“They are not staffed enough,” she said. “There’s nothing they can do about it.” She hopes the Walgreens will one day hire more pharmacists so that all three windows are open during rush hours.
Alexa Guerra, who lives in Potrero Hill, knew that this location was crowded, so when the 24th and Potrero pharmacy closed, she signed up to get her prescriptions delivered. But she needed the medications today, which brought her to the line at Walgreens during the lunch hour.
“People are getting their prescriptions during their lunch breaks,” said Precious Amaechi, who waited a few places behind Guerra. “I have somewhere to be at 1, but I’m gonna be late.”
Living at Casa Adelante, an affordable housing project in the Mission, Amaechi said the Walgreens is the most convenient location for her. She visits the location every two weeks. “They need to hire more people who are willing to work,” she said. “People are not keeping these jobs.”
Joaquin Beltran, whose prescriptions were transferred to the Mission and 23rd Walgreens when the Cesar Chavez location closed in 2021, echoed the concern over short staffing.
“I thought they would have more personnel here,” he said. But that was not the case.
Beltran visits the pharmacy twice a month. Now he knows the drill. When he enters the store and sees people through the space in between the aisles, he walks around the store and goes straight to the end of the line.
He’s worried that as more pharmacies close in the Mission, many monolingual immigrants in the neighborhood would have nowhere to go.
“All these Spanish-speaking people,” he said. “What would happen if they close this one too?”
I dumped that Walgreens location after they closed the Caesar Chavez location and the lines became unbearable. I was waiting in line for 45 minutes back in 2022. I found a locally owned pharmacy that delivers my stuff for $12. Never went back to Walgreens.
I stood in line at that Walgreens for over an hour on several occasions. I now choose to walk to Noe Valley to pick up my prescriptions. I get there and back by the time I would’ve gotten to the counter at the Mission Street location. I’m lucky I’m able and can walk there’s a lot of people out there who can’t
For 20 years I have lived 1 block from the Walgreens in the article. I quit going there over 5 years ago ( long before all the closures of other Walgreens) because the wait was often as long as a half hour.
The up front staff is nice and helpful but the owner of the pharmacy is rude, and arrogant. Now he has more customers but won’t hire more staff.
He has always run a “ghetto” store, it’s just worse now.
I agree, even though I lived in the area all my life I would not step into that walgreens without getting into it with the manager (back in the 80’s) NO CUSTOMER SERVICE whatsoever
What do we want? Public pharmacies bankrolled by the public bank! When do we want it? After I get elected to statewide office!
The lines at 23rd and Mission Walgreen’s have always been terrible and it is not limited to the pharmacy.
I was supposed to pick up my medicine 3 days ago…the lines have been so bad that my meds still sit in the pharmacy.
Amazon delivers pharma items to your home, people!
No lines at my local pharmacy down here on the peninsula. I moved away from the Mission due to crime, store closures, etc.
All that shoplifting we winked at rather than making any effort to stop has come back to haunt Mission residents who need prescriptions.
Thanks Chesa Boudin! This is your legacy.
When will we be rid of this menace to society?! Can we organize a short to recall him? What’s taking so long?!! How is he still in power?!!!
I don’t mean to be rude, but I feel a need to gently point out (and of course you are free to disagree and disregard) that you sound like a fool when you continue to trumpet this take.
Well, perhaps the lax approach to shoplifting over the past 10 years has something to do with Walgreens closing stores in areas. The Walgreens at Mission/Chavez had roaming shoplifters all the time.
Shoplifting was never a major factor – the reason that they are closing stores is the same reason that most retail is a beleaguered industry nationwide – Amazon is killing them
Private sector can’t support pharmacies in SF anymore. Public pharmacies please.
So any business that is not financially viable should just hoover up taxpayer dollars instead?
Rampant shoplifting will not stop just because the taxpayers are subsidizing a failed business model instead of shareholders.
Where were the crappy Mission nonprofits that claim to be and represent “the community” when the Walgreens at 16th and Mission closed, forcing half of the Mission to trudge up to 23d and wait in an interminable line?
I ended up divorcing Walgreens and getting my prescriptions delivered by Alto. They used to have bicyclists do the deliveries, now they have Chinese immigrants driving cars.
I like this location, my brother does not. If you let people keep stealing, of course you will get more closures.