Walgreens on track for spring opening

WASILLA — A new Walgreens store at the corner of the Palmer-Wasilla and Parks highways is on track to open next June. The Valley store was announced earlier this year as one of three being built in Southcentral Alaska.

When the stores are finished, Walgreens will have locations in all 50 states, the company reports.

The addition of Walgreens in Wasilla will add another chain store formally confined to the Lower 48. The Valley store will be located near the new Target store, which opened in October.

Construction of the stores will fall to Alaska companies, Walgreens officials said.

“We’ve hired Alaskan architects and general contractors for all three sites,” Walgreens Vice President of Store Operations for Alaska Rob Hasty says in a news release.

The Valley’s store will sell items made by local vendors, and a vendor fair in Anchorage in August gave local merchants a chance to market their products to Walgreens executives.

The Valley’s demographics was one of the biggest determining factors when Walgreens officials sought locations for their Alaska stores.

“The over-65 population is growing at about a 25-percent clip,” Hasty said.

Because of Alaska’s harsh winter climate, the Wasilla location will feature a heated drive-through pharmacy, heated sidewalks and parking spaces and heated aprons around the front doors.

To some, however, another nationwide chain poses a threat to “mom-and-pop” stores that have been opened for years. Stores with locations across the United States can often discount their products because of larger financial backing and bulk purchasing power.

Still, many owners of smaller, community establishments say they aren’t worried.

Steve Johnson, a pharmacist a the Susitna Professional Pharmacy in Wasilla, said when Walgreens first announced its plans in June that’s he’s not worried about the competition.

Johnson touted his pharmacy’s survival of Wal-Mart, which touts low-cost prescriptions.

“We’re able to provide a better service,” Johnson said.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.