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What's the one thing Boston needs more than another Dunkin' Donuts? Right, another CVS
By adamg on Wed, 11/28/2007 - 8:15pm
Robert David Sullivan vows to boycott the CVS replacing Liquor Land in Roxbury:
... Maybe a supermarket would be better on that site, but a CVS? I'll get my Nyquil fix elsewhere, thank you.
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Comments
The C Stands for crap
Don't worry about not being able to get groceries. In addition to selling the things a drug store should sell like drugs, toothpaste, greeting cards, and Russell Stover's candy, CVS sells milk, crap, telephones, clothing, crap, toys, and more. You will barely even be able to find the pharmacist so it will be like having a grocery store, or a crap store. I won't suggest that people besides me are bothered by this, because judging from the fact that every CrapVS in the country sells this crap people must buy it. I say boycott CrapVS all the time. Shop local.
Local pharmacies are not easy to find
There isn't one in the whole city of Somerville. Years ago, Davis Square had a local store called 'American Discount Pharmacy' -- but its hours and its selection were far inferior to the Osco (now Rite-Aid) that eventually put it out of business.
Sullivan Pharmacy in Roslindale Square
Largest independent pharmacy in New England, you betcha.
There's also one on Centre Street in West Roxbury (with, I think, the imaginative name of West Roxbury Pharmacy).
CrapVS
Understood about the shortage of small pharmacies, but there is no shortage of local places where you can buy all the crap that CVS sells that I was ranting about. My favorite drug stores are in Italy where there is absolutely nothing but pharmaceuticals and skin care products and, moreover, where none of the above is in front of the counter. You are greeted by an attractive woman in a white lab coat who asks you what you need and then goes and gets it for you. No need, or opportunity, to search for anything. If you ask something absurd like, "do you have sun glasses?", you are met with appropriate disdain and told to go to the sun glasses store. End rant.
Where to buy 'crap'
In my neighborhood of Davis Square, I can't think of a truly local place to buy the 'crap' -- for instance, shoelaces, which I needed a few nights ago. So I go to CVS or Rite-Aid or Family Dollar. Our parents probably went to Kresge's or Woolworth's for the same stuff.
I like the idea of buying local, but it's not always practical.
"Simplify"
There we were, older son and I, combing the Assembly Square Crapmasstree Shoppee for any hint of things we needed - three dish tubs, a couple cheapo welcome mats to catch demolition bits, etc.
On our way to the registers, we saw a sale on hand lettered, folksy signs. In the midst of them, a shining beacon of craptastic irony:
"Simplify", it said.
Davis
It is getting hard to find any useful every day stores in Davis. Great restaurants etc., but hard to find shoelaces. As one old-school Davis Sq. resident once said to me "nothin' but bah-rooms" now.
'Useful' stores in Davis
It's not that hard to find stuff like shoelaces in Davis. All three of the stores I listed above probably carry them (though I only checked the closest one to me, CVS). However, this means shopping in a chain store rather than a locally-owned one.
I'm not sure things were that different a generation or two ago when we still had Woolworth's and Kresge's in the square.
I miss Woolworth's
Where was it in Davis?
Also, re: useful stores, I'd say the Singer repair shop as well as Savas' shoe repair on Elm are pretty darn useful. You could probably make your own shoelaces between those two stores.
Woolworth's in Davis
The first Woolworth's was before my time, so I'm not sure. The second one was called "Woolworth Express" and it was on the north side of Elm Street. I can't remember which current store's space it occupied -- might be Family Dollar's.
Kresge's was way before my time, but I know it was there.
I love Savas Shoe Repair, and probably would have gone there for the laces if it weren't 10:30 pm. In a few weeks he'll get my current pair of shoes for re-heeling.
I know it's not Somerville, but it's awfully close.
Ron: For prescriptions and "crap," I usually go to Inman Pharmacy on Cambridge St. Somehow they manage on a lot of the non-prescription items to have better prices than the chains.
You probably know this already, but, other indie pharmacies in the neighborhood are - Skenderian's (up Camb towards Harvard Square - they're more medical supply, though, than other stuff). Ciampa (again, Camb Street, heading towards Lechmere) is more like Skenderian's than Inman.
On another note, I'm kind of depressed at how many of the little Portuguese markets are closing down here. I'd find all sorts of neato stuff in those places that you just can't find in a dollar store.
Get off your high horse!
Yes, a packy is much better than a pharmacy - I'll take 2 dope heads over 50 homeless people anyways.
These stores in poor neighborhoods are just to keep the minorities at bay so they don't rise up and kill the white folks. Grow up.
Boo hoo, some poison merchants get put out of business, now people will have to drink listerine and pass out somewhere else.
How about they forget the CVS and build A POLICE STATION there?
Or, if they wanted to stop crime, an employment center.
"Poison merchants" ?
Do you favor reviving Prohibition? It worked so well last time we tried it.
If the purpose of a liquor store in the South End is to "keep the minorities at bay", then what is the purpose of a similar store in Lexington?
To Keep Arlington Drunk!
When I lived in the far end of Arlington, near the Lexington line, Arlington didn't even have beer and wine licenses for eateries, let alone packies. You had to get plastered at one of the seven fraternal organizations which served hard liquor OR head into Lexington.
At one time, there were three liquor stores before you got to 100 Mass Ave.
Medford has them clustered on the part of High St. by the river for the same reason.
More big words from someone
More big words from someone who can't find a name to put to them.
Liquor Land is less than a mile from police headquarters, which is in turn less than a mile from the B2 station. How many more police stations do you think Roxbury needs in a couple-mile radius?
But given your words, I think I can safely say that you've never set foot in Roxbury, have you? Are you scared of the meeeean brown people?
Liquor Land is located in
Liquor Land is located in the South End, not Roxbury. Mass Ave is NOT the dividing line between Roxy and the South End, though I bet all the stroller pushing SUV driving suburbanites moving in the South End would argue otherwise.
It's directly behind Boston Medical Center, and I've been going there for years for libations. It's gritty, dirty, and always has an interesting cast of characters in there... and I'm sad to see it go.
There's not much around it that will benefit from ANOTHER chain drug store. There's a Walgreens only 2-3 blocks away.
It's also the only packy around the South End with a parking lot.