CHATHAM (WBBM Newsradio) -- People living in a South side neighborhood are a month away from losing their neighborhood drug store, and local elected leaders are not happy about it.
Three members of Chicago City Council marched with community leaders and neighbors Monday morning into the Walgreens that's set to close at 86th and Cottage Grove, chanting "Do right by us!" as shoppers, store employees and one security guard looked on.
A Walgreens spokesperson said the Deerfield-based chain decided to close the store over losses from shoplifting and reports of violent incidents at the store, which has been at 8628 S. Cottage Grove Ave. for decades. Local Alderman William Hall calls that a case of "selective memory" to justify a "closure by color."
"These young people are not shoplifters," said Ald. Hall (6th Ward) as supporters nodded. "These young people are not tearin' up no store!"
A woman walks past a sign in front of the Walgreens store in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood that announces the store's plan to close June 4.
Geoff Buchholz
Daryl Smith said it's getting harder to fill the more than a dozen prescriptions his mother requires after a lung transplant, because Walgreens has been closing stores across the South side.
"They closed 63rd and King Drive," Smith said. "They closed 63rd and Halsted. They closed 47th and Ashland. They closed 63rd and Kedzie."
The company said prescriptions at the Chatham store will be moved to the Walgreens at 87th and Stony Island, which is a little more than a mile away. But local pharmacist Eryn White said that won't work for a lot of people in the neighborhood, adding that it can take up to an hour to fill a prescription at that location. "It's unacceptable," she said.
Ald. Hall also noted that the Walgreens at 1201 S. State St. in the South Loop was remodeled to focus on filling prescriptions after dealing with similar issues involving retail theft, and he wants the company to do the same to the Cottage Grove location.
In the meantime, the Chatham store is set to close June 4.
