CVS Pharmacy

The customer service is great in the front but if you use the pharmacy they are incredibly rude. So rude I actually felt the need to review a CVS, which I would normally never do. The pharmacy refused to call my insurance company to get information so I called the company. My insurance company even asked why I was calling since it’s the pharmacists job! This dragged on for 45 mins. She kept telling me I needed to do something else each time I gave her the info she asked for. I actually think she needs to be fired. I was visibly mad and she also handled that unprofessionally. When I asked her for my prescription back she got really rude and told me no matter where I go I will run still have an issue. I said I wanted to deal with someone less rude anyway. It was just so ridiculous. I think a customer has the right to be angry at a pharmacist who refuses to do their job.

This is the best place to buy random grocery items in the north end. This area needs a normal supermarket very badly. And cash back up to $ 40 makes much more sense than paying the $ 3.50 fee at the atm on the corner, which is significant as many places in the neighborhood are cash only. But yeah, it’s a CVS.

Lots of other folks have commented on the wide range of items offered as well as the friendliness of the checkout staff. I’d like to put in a plug for the pharmacy staff. First, I appreciate that they have significant tenure. Many of them have worked at the pharmacy for a number of years now, and it’s great to have an opportunity to get to know your local pharmacists, which isn’t something I expected while living in the city. In addition, they are all incredibly professional, knowledgeable, friendly, and available… and I could go on and on. They follow clear protocols regarding privacy and other safeguards, and as a result, I take solace in knowing that my medical information is safe and secure and that if I have any questions about my prescriptions I can ask them and receive a warm, transparent, and well-​informed response. I’m moving to a different part of Boston soon and having to transfer to a new pharmacy is going to be a big change.

So I know this is just a CVS, but the employees here are really fantastic, which prompted me to write this review. I live in the N End so I’m in here at least a few times a week picking up random things. Every Sunday I check the store specials and stock up accordingly. But anyway, the employees are super friendly even when the self checkout is being finicky and annoying. I always leave smiling and thinking they all do a great job, so thanks guys!
Also– in the «cash only» N End I end up buying one pack of gum and getting cash back (up to $ 35) quite frequently to avoid ATM charges and its so helpful!

What happened to this CVS! As a resident of the North End I am embarrassed at how poorly the majority of the staff treat its customers (excluding the nice man who assists at the self check out). I went to the photo center and printed pictures at the Kiosk. When I needed the staff to punch in the code, the staff member could not be bothered to help me. Once she finally did, she couldn’t even type her code on the screen so I had to do it. Once the order was complete, I saw my photos on the printer behind the counter. The staff explained to me that it would be 1 hour before I could pick up my photos despite the fact they were sitting on the printer! The reason? They were ‘Going on break’ for the next half hour.
Additionally, the lines at the registers were out of control! I have never seen a CVS run so poorly and inefficiently.
I would avoid this CVS location at all costs.
Best of luck if you must go. God speed.

Great location with opportunist pricing. Pray you don’t need to get an umbrella at this place!

I feel silly reviewing a CVS, but the cashiers here are always so friendly and helpful I felt that it was necassary.
The layout is different from other CVS’s, but it’s in the North End, the buildings are old, so yes, it’s smaller.

The single worst cvs in boston. I have never walked in needing X Y and Z and walked away with at least three items. Staff never knows what’s going on. Avoid at all costs

This CVS has alot! It is also conveniently located in the North End on Hanover Street so when you need something you can stop in. They also have many food items here too. The self-​checkout is also helpful. Make sure to bring your CVS card and scan it into the machine when you walk in. It prints out the coupons you can use immediately!

The physical layout is awkward, which is a function of this CVS pigeonholing itself into an ancient North End building. Cosmetics are tucked away in a corner that you might not find on your first visit (hint: look left).
The inventory layout is not optimal. When I’m looking for kleenex, I should not have to resort to crawling up and down each individual aisle (put some kleenex by the cough drops is all I’m sayin’).
Pet peeves: they have cheap donuts but no brownie mix & some folks use the (narrow) pharmacy aisle as a meet-​and-​greet (blocking me from actually acquiring any kleenex until they finished with the chit chat). Also, when it gets crowded at checkout, people don’t always bother to get in a line, so it’s kind of a free for all and you have to shove your way to an available self-​checkout kiosk.
Obviously, having a CVS in the neighborhood is better than not having a CVS, but this one has some quirks that quickly turn a shopping experience sour.
P. S. The pharmacists are great.

my babies first pictures ever taken by my dad in law who is a professional photographer for the local newspaper for years mind you, taken with a very expensive camera with brand new 35 mm kodak film, we took 4 rolls and guess what i get a call from the photo lab girl at the cvs that we always use for our needs/​pharmacy. states u need to come down and look at this… all of ur pictures are all hazy… we r having car issues right now so no i cant run down there just yet. well ur pictures all 4 rolls must be old film. nope opened it myself. ok when u brang them from wv (where my inlaws live) they must have gotten scanned thru the xray machine. ok maybe… if we flew… but we drove and they were protected as well as my babies were… being their first pix and all. well mam it wasnt us… REALLY…WHO WAS IT THEN… THE PHOTO LAB GHOST… the same girl checking ppl out isalsothe photo lab girl… must be pretty talented then… huh? so now all of my pix come out hazy or milky? cannot use they are ruined… but still wants me to come down and get and pay for them now… ur joking right? i cant replace my babies first pictures taken by their grandpa that we worked on for 2 hours. DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING NOT EVEN A DISPOSABLE CAMERA FOR DEVELOPING… I KNOW WE HANDLED THEM WITH CARE… BUT CVS DONT… AND THEY STILL WANT US TO PICK THEM UP (WE CHECK OUR CHEMICAL LEVELS DAILY, SO IT WASNT OUR FAULT… WHATEVER) SO WHEN I ASK FOR THE NEGATIVES… DEAD SILENCE…
NICE CVS LET ME RUIN YOUR KIDS FIRST BABY PICTURES… SEE HOW HAPPY YOU ARE.

Immediate 5 star rating for the self-​checkout so that I can get the Hell in and the Hell out.

The rating in my review would have been higher if it were based solely on selection of products this store carries.
But as one other person noted, it can be frustrating to shop here because there is usually only one cashier open. That’s if you’re lucky and one of the registers on the right hand side of the store is open. The self-​checkout lines are inevitably a mile long. Lots of fun if you are purchasing a gift card, which must be activated by a cashier and you actually have to hunt a cashier down because only the self-​checkout is open.
My other pet peeve is with the pharmacy. A lot of times, if there is a line, they will try to have two customers check out at the same time at the window. I understand wanting to get people out of there as fast as possible to prevent a line backing up. But I simply don’t like to have someone right next to me when I may be discussing personal or sensitive information.

I am repeatedly frustrated with this CVS. There is only one cashier now, and the auto-​checkout machines are always busted. But primarly I like checking out with a person, and not the kind security guard who helps out the patrons checking out at the machines (though I am sure it is not his role).

Self-​checkouts are available at this location. And they’re awesome.
I always feel guilty waiting in line just to buy a bottle of water and holding up someone behind me who’s in a rush or who have unhappy children.
As for the cashiers, they’re not slow. I think some of the people who shop here are «slow.»
The people at the pharmacy are nice, although sometimes I wait and wonder if they are actually doing anything at the computer when it’s clear I’m waiting. All in all, I keep going back to this location and will continue to do so because I love drugs and bottled water.

I’d like to add a little insight to the slow cashier comment. If there’s a long line, two women with over a hundred bottles a piece, some guy who insists on using a battery coupon on some gum and because it’s raining there are a bunch of people with umbrellas, and you’re there late at night? What the hell do you expect them to do? I have been a cashier before so I know the pain. Now they have a self service area and I think that takes WAY longer than the «slow» cashiers because the damn things don’t even work.
Leave the poor people alone! Or else.

I have been informed that this CVS is now open until 12am and not 10pm in an abrupt/​unhelpfully brief message. Thanks!

So, first off they have mostly everything you need in life.
If you need 5 different conditioners — they have it.
If you need 30 different types of condoms — they have it.
Drugs. Yes, for days!
Cookies. Om nom nom nom.
They have magazines saying that the president is an alien, Octomom is actually a man, and that Paris, Britney, and Lindsey are donating their brains to science.
WHAT THEY DON’T HAVE IS FAST CASHIERS!
Jeebus, people, I ran a liquor store on Christmas Eve with 3 cashiers that went 20 people in the amount of time these people take to go through 1. It’s a computer with a scanner! It’s the epitome of simplicity. They you efficiently stick the items in a bag that’s right in front of you!
Wow, these people aren’t dumb, they are just slower than molasses on a February morning.
But if you need 17 different flavors of tic tacs, they got it.

I had to review this CVS for just one, very important reason…
They have the most gorgeous pharmacists I have ever seen!
Gorgeous!
Just my $ 0.02…

This sucker is actually open until midnight these days and has been remodeled since the last review. They have a decent selection of everything that you would expect in CVS, there is a pharmacy, photo lab, and a great supply of 99 cent bags of onion Sun Chips (or Doritos if I am feeling bad).
This CVS ends up being my go to guy, because it’s in my hood, I hate paying too much for TP and they keep sucking me back in there with their coupons and ExtraCare bucks. Seriously, one of my friends gave me a CVS gift card for my Christmas and I still thank her for it. Way more useful than the XXL bright red sweatshirt with a huge picture of Rudolph’s head on it that I got from mom.