[throwaway3776]

Throwaway, but I can assure you as an SF resident, most of us are more than happy to see Walgreens go.

They pay and treat their employees terribly along with pushing junk food and other garbage to people just trying to fill a prescription.

We are excited for quality, owner operated pharmacies to return and replace them. Just like they served us before Walgreens came in and muscled them all out of business.

It’s almost as if not looking out for your community results in that community not looking out for you.

[gruez]

>We are excited for quality, owner operated pharmacies to return and replace them. Just like they served us before Walgreens came in and muscled them all out of business.

What makes you think that the owner operated pharmacies won't be targeted by shoplifters? Are a significant chunk of the shoplifters doing it for ideological reasons?

>It’s almost as if not looking out for your community results in that community not looking out for you.

Sounds like victim blaming to me. The whole point of having laws and law enforcement is to have an official way to pay your dues to the community and get protection in return, rather than having to pay for "protection" from the community itself.

[atatatat]

> What makes you think that the owner operated pharmacies won't be targeted by shoplifters?

Footage from the LA Riots.

[gruez]

You mean the one where korean store owners had to defend their businesses by shooting from the rooftops? That seems like an obvious case of owner operated businesses were still targeted.

[atatatat]

Right.

But they don't have a corporate policy against self-defense.

Of course people keep escalating shoplifting if it's known policy not to engage.

[gruez]

Sounds less like "the community [...] looking out for you" and more you using violence to protect your property.

[atatatat]

As opposed to the people trespassing into "my" store and physically removing "my" property?

(I'm not a shop owner)

[new_realist]

That was 30 years ago in another city. The rioters are 50 years old now.

[grandmczeb]

I’m also a SF resident and the above comment does not represent the vast majority of people here. A good example is Ahsha Safai’s comment (the supervisor for district 11):

“I am completely devastated by this news - this Walgreens is less than a mile from seven schools and has been a staple for seniors, families and children for decades. This closure will significantly impact this community.”

https://twitter.com/ahsha_safai/status/1447988178586013698?s...

[staticautomatic]

That comment is about the value of a store like Walgreens. It's not praise of the Walgreens brand.

[grandmczeb]

It’s about one of the specific stores in TFA.

[rmk]

That's all nice to say when you are not one of the Walgreens employees who may lose a job as a result of the closures, right?

Owner-operated pharmacies have been out of business for decades. I'm sure you yearn for the days of Blockbuster video or, better still, your neighborhood video stores. No Netflix for you, right?

[atatatat]

> Owner-operated pharmacies have been out of business for decades.

Check out anywhere in the US more than 100 miles from an Ocean

[rmk]

There are fewer than 20k such pharmacies, for 3k counties in the US. So fewer than 7 per county. It's safe to say they are gone for good.

Also, consider the fact that at least 40% of the population lives within 100 miles of a coast, perhaps more.

https://fortune.com/2021/04/29/independent-owned-small-pharm...

[jollybean]

I feel this is a naive assessment.

Walgreens is not 'pushing' anything on anyone - people make choices to buy Doritos.

More importantly -> they're going there for the Doritos as much as anything else.

Walgreens has incredible economies of scale and operational expertise. They know what people want, they know how to keep the shelves stocked efficiently, which is not exactly novel, but it's hard for mom and pop shops to do.

If SF residents truly wanted 'independent pharmacies' for prescriptions, they would have been using them already.

As far as 'employee treatment' - maybe there is something there, but I'm doubtful if it rises to the threshold that we'd want them closed.

'The Problem' is entirely San Francisco's insane attitudes towards crime.

And finally, most poignantly, those criminals will steal from the 'locally owned stores' just as well, and they won't have 500 other locations to absorb the losses.

This is an SF civic problem.

Get SF to act rationally - and then - maybe it's possible to have a discussion about 'locally owned' shops etc..

[proc0]

You think they'll stop at Walgreens? Lol. I suspect this is only the beginning. You should understand that the political incumbents don't care because there is nothing stopping them or holding them accountable. That way of thinking will guarantee they stay in power, so they'll continue their experiments.

[ziml77]

I've been to multiple Walgreens and none of them have pushed junk food on anyone. In fact, the most direct path from the entrance to the pharmacy hasn't even contained the food. That's always been on the opposite side of the store.

[atatatat]

Mine has a tower of Pringles, minimum.