Wednesday, January 11, 2006
I think North Coast's take on the proposed Walgreen's at Gates Circle is 95% correct. As I commented over there, I am troubled by the fact that the new store may drive the Rite Aid there out of business-- as it happens that is the drug store I use, and it wouldn't take much to make me switch-- the Right Aid is slow, inefficent, dingy-- all in all a less than ideal retail experience. The thing is, though, that if the Right Aid folds its tent up, that space will be an utter blight, another empty cement block building. That's no reason to tell Walgreens to go away, but it is a legitimate concern, and it is certainly another good reason to make sure that Walgreens puts a store in that is built out to the sidewalk. We drove by Gates on my way back from school last night. A is quite agitated about this, and not without reason-- the fact is that the Gates Circle area has been degraded by the Rite Aid and the Atlantic gas station, which are smack dab next to some attractive, expensive looking houses. The Circle itself is attractive-- one of my favorite things in the city, actually. It would be crazy to ugly it up. Unfortunately, as this Google Earth image shows, there really isn't a lot of room for parking in the rear-- the lots that are visible are for the hospital, and I don't see that being contributed to the cause-- can you imagine the uproar if doctors didn't have a convenient place to park? 
// posted by Bill @ 10:25 AM 
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