Walgreens Rx to build new store

By: 
Philip A. Janquart
Walgreens in Weiser is breaking from Bi-Mart.
 It will do so in the form of a 2,500-square foot building directly south of Dollar General, which is on the east side of Sixth Street across from Ridley’s and Bi-Mart. It will have 22 parking stalls. According to Walgreens representative Dillon Tidwell, construction on the pharmacy will begin in June and should be completed sometime in the fall, potentially the end of October.
 Tidwell could not provide any further details and calls to Walgreen’s media relations office were not returned. City of Weiser Public Works Supervisor, Mike Campbell, said that to his knowledge Walgreens has no immediate plans to build a full store. 
 “That is what we are being told; a Walgreen’s pharmacy only, not a Walgreens store,” he said.
 The only pharmacies available to Weiser residents are located at Ridley’s and Bi-Mart. 
 In September 2021, Bi-Mart announced that the retail store had reached an agreement with Walgreens to acquire its pharmacy business. The deal included pharmacy patient prescription files and related inventory of 56 Bi-Mart pharmacies in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.
 Since that time, Walgreens has operated its pharmacy within Bi-Mart’s Weiser store.
 According to some residents, however, Walgreens did not accept Blue Cross health insurance, leading many to get their prescriptions filled at Ridley’s.
 It is not known whether Walgreens will begin accepting the insurance carrier once the new pharmacy has been completed.
 The property where the pharmacy is to be built is part of a roughly 3.9-acre parcel, which is zoned C-2 and is defined in city code as “Central Business District.” 
 The parcel is being split into three separate lots under the Leen Family Subdivision preliminary plat.
 Walgreens will occupy the northernmost lot, the only one currently under development. It is not yet known what will be built on the remaining two lots, which continue to the south along Sixth Street.
 Weiser Planning and Zoning unanimously recommended the project for approval by the city council in March. At a regular meeting on May 8, the Weiser city council approved a $139,370 surety bond in connection with the 1420 E. Sixth St. development.
 A surety bond is a measure that can be exercised by municipalities to ensure that certain improvements in connection with developments are made. 
 “What they do is bond the cost of the street development, so curb, gutter, sidewalk, the swell, and sewer and water tap going into those new properties,” Campbell explained. “They bond that, so they can go ahead and start building without putting that in. The bond will be to the city and the city gives them so much time, anywhere from three to six months, to finish building inside there, and then they’ll have to put those improvements in to get it completed. Without a surety bond, they can’t build on the lot until those are completed. That will guarantee that if they don’t come through at the end of the bond, we would cash it in and pay to have the improvements made.”
 But Campbell said he has never seen it come to that.
 Crews began working on various infrastructure, including power, in April. During a March 20 planning and zoning meeting, Mandie Brozo, representing CSHQA architectural firm in Boise, said the improvements, including driveway cuts, will extend the entire length of the 3.9-acre parcel, which sets up the remaining two lots for future development. 
 Brozo said that her firm has been working with a landscape architect to ensure the property meets landscape requirements and standards for both the front and back of the store, which is cleary visible from Highway 95.
 
 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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