| 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.. |