The Walgreen's on De Anza Boulevard is closing Feb. 28, despite the fact that the drugstore's new home won't be available until summer.
Once Walgreen's--the last occupying tenant of the center--leaves, Home Depot will construct the 106,000-square-foot home and garden supply center it has planned on building there since 1995.
Walgreen's wanted to wait until the new store at Bollinger and Blaney was completed, but was unable to extend its lease. Tentatively, the new Walgreen's is set to open in late July or early August.
"We're being kicked out," said Bill Guzules, Walgreen's manager. "We did try to extend [our lease] an extra month to get it closer to when the new store will be open, but Home Depot wants to begin construction."
Walgreen's has until April 30 to vacate the space, but the store needs to close at the end of this month to ship leftover merchandise to other stores.
To continue providing services to customers, the Walgreen's at 4360 Stevens Creek Boulevard is providing free delivery of prescriptions. Store managers anticipate the pharmacy will make 50 to 60 prescription deliveries per day.
"Walgreen's does not usually do deliveries," Guzules said. "We don't want to lose the customers, and it's not their fault our timing was off when we have to be out of here. In order to keep them, we're offering this service."
The opening of the new Walgreen's was targeted for late May or early June, but construction has been hampered by the rain, said Tom Barbato, project manager with South Bay Construction.
Construction will not be completed until the end of June and, following that, Walgreen's will spend another month outfitting the building before it is opened.
Home Depot is scheduled to demolish the building at 975 De Anza Boulevard in the spring.
"We are expecting that we will start construction sometime this summer and will have the store open sometime early next year," said Amy Friend, Home Depot spokesperson .
The new Walgreen's will probably lose some customers because of the store's poor timing. Guzules is optimistic about retaining the majority of them as well as tapping into the new customer base.
"We're hoping that we'll retain our prescription customers by doing the deliveries. We'll probably lose some customers like the seniors who live behind our store and walk," Guzules said. "We hope to actually pick up foot traffic in the area of the new store. There's actually more homes there."
The drug store has been there since April 1984, and Guzules is looking forward to the upcoming move.
"This has never been a fantastic location," Guzules said. "We would probably be moving or closing anyway. Ever since Kmart's been gone, [business has] just been terrible."
Cupertino, California Since 1947
