NORTH SMITHFIELD – A pharmacy built just five short years ago is closed its doors for good this week as part of a nationwide rollback of some 200 locations announced in August.
The Walgreens at 1 Eddie Dowling Highway permanently closed at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 14. The store, situated beside Stop & Shop in Park Square, opened in 2014 and several buildings, including a former Mobil Gas station, were demolished during construction that year to make way for the 40,800-square-foot structure.
Tax records show the business paid $16,561 in taxes to the town of North Smithfield in 2019.
Store associates said this week that any prescriptions kept in Park Square would automatically transfer to the Walgreens at 45 Cumberland St. in Woonsocket unless other instructions were provided.
The closure is part of a cost-cutting plan announced this summer that resulted in the shuttering of some 200 Walgreens locations across the country. Employees have reportedly been transferred to jobs at remaining locations.
But it’s not all bad news for the pharmacy chain, first opened in 1901 in Chicago. The nation’s second largest pharmacy recently purchased around half of the Rite Aid stores across the country, including the location at Slatersville Plaza.
That store has been transitioning to the new brand over the past several months, with the official name change set to take place in January. The pharmacy already uses the Walgreens name.
