HomeMy WebLinkAboutECKERD DRUG, COLLEGE & DRAKE - PDP/FDP - 25-03 - MEDIA -Eckerd
Continued from Page Al
Fort Collins interviewed Tues-
day afternoon were surprised at
the store's pending closure but
said there are plenty of other
drug stores in the city to fill pre-
scriptions.
In addition to pharmacies in su-
permarkets, Fort Collins has three
Longs Drug stores, three Wal-
green stores, one Rite Aid and
three independent drugstores.
"It's kind of sad when an insti-
tution goes away, but there are
so many more to choose from,"
Henke said.
Because the store has been
Open only since the end of Janu-
ary, many customers said they've
visited only once or twice.
"This is our first prescrip-
tion," Reese Williams of Fort
Collins said as he left the store
with a bag in hand. "I don't know
where we'll go now."
J.C. Penney announced Mon-
day that it was selling the Flori-
da -based Eckerd company —
the nation's fourth -largest drug-
store chain — to Rhode Island -
based CVS Corp. and Jean
Coutu Group Inc. in a deal val-
ued at $4.53 billion.
Jean Coutu Group will acquire
about 1,539 drugstores in the
Northeast and mid -Atlantic
states, as well as the company's
headquarters in Florida, for $2.38
billion in.cash. Those stores will
continue under the Eckerd name.
CVS Corp. will pay $2.15 bil-
lion for approximately 1,260
stores and support facilities, lo-
cated mostly in the southern
United States. ,
It also will acquire Eckerd's
pharmacy benefits management
and mail-order business. CVS
Plans to rename the stores.
It is unclear which company
is responsible for the real estate
and assets of Colorado stores or
when they will close. Eckerd
corporate officials did not return
phone calls this week.
Eckerd — with 2,775 stores in
23 states — planned to open 20
new locations in Colorado by
the end of the year.
This isn't the first time the
drugstore chain pulled out of
Colorado, though, said Val
Kalnins, executive director of the
Colorado Pharmacists Society.
In the late 1980s, Eckerd tried
to establish stores and then
withdrew from the state.
"There have been a number of
r
people who have come to this lot of its stores."
market and tried to make a go of
it and been unsuccessful, he The Associated Press contributed .
said. ,.Rite Aid has pulled out a to this report.
4-7 -oy
By TAMERA MANZANARES
TameraManzanares@
coloY adoan.com
and KIRSTER
ORSINI-MEINHARD
Ki mten& sini(lcoloradoan.com
Fort Collins' Eckerd drug-
store — open since January
— will close and another
store under construction in
the city will never open as
part of J.C. Penney Co.'s sale
of the Eckerd chain to CVS
Corp. and Canada -based
Jean Coutu Croup Inc.
All nine Colorado Eck-
erd stores, including those
under construction, will be
shuttered, said J.C. Penney
spokesman Quinton Cren-
shaw.
That includes a store un-
der construction at 2612 S.
College Ave. and another
Coming Monday
Battle of the pharmacies
slated to open this year at the
northwest corner of Seventh
and Main streets in Windsor.
"But it just opened up,"
exclaimed Fort Collins res-
ident Jenny Henke, who
was shopping Tuesday af-
temoon at Eckerd, 4621 S.
Timberline Road.
Eckerd managers in Fort
Collins declined comment
on how many employees of
the store will lose their jobs
or how many customers will
have to transfer prescrip-
tions to another location.
Shoppers at Eckerd in
QUASHED: Plans for an Eckerd drugstore under construc-
See ECKERD/Page A2 bon on South College Avenue have been cancelled.
Sherri Barber/The Coloradoan