It is never pleasant to mention the closure of a LOCAL business that serves the needs of our community. Such is the case in Great Barrington as the drug store formerly known as Melvin's on Main Street will once again have a vacancy sign on May 2nd. The location was formerly a Brooks Pharmacy and afterwards became a Rite-Aid until Walgreen's took over the property a few years ago. The Southern Berkshire Registry of Deeds reports the building is owned via a family trust that oversaw operations at Melvin's Drug Store which was a downtown staple on 197 Main Street since 1950.

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(photo credit of Walgreen's exterior courtesy of www.google.com)

In an e-mail sent earlier this week, Walgreen's Senior Manager of media relations, Marty Maloney made the grim announcement:

“As Walgreens expands as a leader in healthcare, we are focused on best meeting the needs of patients and customers in communities we serve by creating the right network of stores in the right locations. When faced with the difficult task of closing a particular location, several factors are taken into account, including things like the dynamics of the local market and changes in the buying habits of our patients and customers.”

CVS in New Hampshire
Townsquare Media
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Customers also received the word their prescription records will be forwarded immediately to The CVS Pharmacy, also located on Main Street. Customers with any questions, should call (413) 528-2424. Currently, Massachusetts has a total of 173 Walgreen's locations statewide. Locally, there are 7 of them left here in Berkshire county. 3 remain in the city of Pittsfield following the closure of it's South Street location in December of 2021 due to staffing problems. Only one location remains in south county as Lee has the sole honor of being the last one standing on Park Street.

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(photo credit: www.google.com)

It is unknown regarding the status of those employees who remain in Great Barrington as other factors attributing to the closing included a lack of pharmacists at The Man Street location and the aftermath of COVID-19 which once again continues to rear it's ugly head causing a slew of problems for the general public.

This has also impacted other competing drug store chains as Rite-Aid has closed over 150 stores and CVS has announced they plan to shut down over 900 locations nationwide. We will keep you posted on the latest developments.

(Some information obtained in this article courtesy of www.theberkshireedge.com and www.theberkshireeagle.com)

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