Perhaps Mark Wagner, Walgreens (801 7th Street) president of operations and community management, said it best: “This is not your grandma’s store.” What an understatement. The new, 21,400 square foot flagship store that opened this morning on the northeast corner of 7th and H streets in Chinatown has it all—an enhanced, state-of-the-art pharmacy that includes a walk-in clinic; a juice and smoothie bar; a boutique beauty department with a nail and eyebrow bar for manicures and grooming services; fresh food items; and much more. Grandma would be pleased.
City officials are certainly ecstatic. Mayor Vincent C. Gray and D.C. Councilmembers Jack Evans (Ward 2) and Vincent Orange (Ward 5), all present at the Grand Opening, expressed satisfaction with having the nation’s largest drugstore chain locate into what was once a long vacant, boarded-up building.
“It’s wonderful to have something going on again on this corner,” said Mayor Gray. “Downtown used to be a ghost town after 5 p.m. Now, we’ve turned around 180 degrees. People are living here and coming to the Verizon Center (601 F Street) for events. Tourists can be a part of the electric, active environment now in Downtown DC.”
Spread over three levels, Walgreens’ newest Well Experience flagship store—the seventh in the U.S. and Puerto Rico—will employ 75 people and showcase a unique pharmacy format that offers quality, affordable care and has nurse practitioners on site. The front of the store will be open 24 hours a day with extensive, but shorter, hours for the pharmacy and Take Care Clinic.
Douglas Development Corporation (702 H Street), a major Downtown property owner and one of the city’s most active private developers, restored the building along with several existing properties that are being transformed into a state-of-the-art, mixed-use development that includes about 22,000 SF of office space and 33,000 SF of retail on several floors, including the Walgreens, Panera Bread (673 H Street)—which opened in January—and Yo! Sushi restaurant, coming soon.
Walgreens now has five locations in D.C. and operates 8,071 drugstores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.