CVS

Always a line at checkout! No matter when u come!!!
They run out of things and never re– stock on time.
Cashiers are SLOW and have no clue what they are doing most of the time. Do they get any training?!
Merchandising — mess!!! Seriously?! Who is working on that?!
Terrible place and yet there is no Duane read to go to as alternative. So disappointing especially if it from NYC and used to quality !!!

Amazing customer service on 8÷16÷15. I had a mishap while unpackaging some expensive allergy meds I had just purchased and the staff was extremely helpful. Saved the day. Thank you!

I hate nothing more then using CVS for my prescription medication. I needed to get my cats prescription refilled, its people medication, and to my great surprise I had to call so many different pharmacist and no one had it or it was twice as what I normally paid for. This location CVS had it the first time I went there even though I had called them ahead of time I had to wait around till they filled it. This is not a very accessible location. Parking is horrible and with so much snow it was kind of impossible to leave my car anywhere.
Now I needed a refill, again I called a head of time and they said they could fill it, double parked with my daughter sitting in the car, ran upstairs to pick up the prescription to find to my great horror that this pharmacy had moved. Not knowing the area I had to get back in my car, put the address back in GPS and only realizing after ward that they had moved to the street behind. What’s gotten me real mad is I called the pharmacy, I spoke to a person, they should be telling their customers that they have moved, at least for couple of months.

Out of the two in Harvard square, this is definitely the better CVS. Even so, it’s not as fully stocked as the one over by the Central Sq stop and the ceilings here are too low for my liking.
It’s convenient and close to my work for me and I have to give the pharmacists props for helping me deal with my crackpot insurance and having to put up with them. They really are a knowledgeable, kind bunch and I’ll bet you they all know me by face if not name by now thanks to my insurance.
Gotta watch out for long check out lines during the school semester evenings as this place becomes full of Harvard kids looking for their midnight snacks. I do appreciate the self check out booths even if one of them did eat my coupon that one time (curse youuuuu!).
Their cosmetics aisle has the basics but none of the new releases until those themselves are incorporated into the permanent collection. This isn’t the place to come looking for the new essie polish you’ve had your eye on.
Regular staff is ok too… usually they hand me more bags than I need but they did go out of their way to find me some big spray in the middle of February when I was planning my trip to Asia.

Avoid if you need to use the Pharmacy, which is severely under-​staffed (only one poor person trying to manage all the in-​take, and only one actually filling prescriptions). Given how complicated insurance and other issues now are, expect to wait in line an hour or more just to deposit your prescription, even if yours is a simple one. It’s not the fault of the staff, but of management, which seems to be driven purely by profit, rather than customer service. Better to use a dedicated pharmacy, with professional management and real concern for patients. There are quite a few in Cambridge, though I’m not sure if there’s one in Harvard Square.

I was growing increasingly frustrated with this store and its lack of items that most every other CVS always has in stock… And then I realized it has a second floor. My bad!
But even so, you’d think there would be better signage so that that frustration could be prevented. I had absolutely no idea about the second story until I asked. There are signs at the ends of each aisle, but none within each aisle labeling each of the sections. So you’re pretty much on your own!
In addition to that, the cashier and the other employee I encountered were grumpy and rude. The only thing saving this place from one star is that I did find what I was looking for. Eventually.
Going to a CVS should never be this headache-​inducing. Seriously.

CVS is my default go-​to place when I’m missing one or two items. It has a good variety of items, and carries for the most part, just what you need. It’s not Target, and it’s not Trader Joes, but you can find note cards, milk, and toilet paper in one place. There’s not that much selection, as there would be at a Target, but it gets the job done if you’re not picky. The self service is also very convenient, allowing you to be in and out in 10 minutes at most.

Never had a good experience here. The lay-​out is bizarre, the staff is harried, and everything you need is on the floor that you’re not. It always takes me twice as long as it feels like it should to buy simple stuff like toothpaste. Part of the problem is the sheer number of people coming through here because of the location, but that doesn’t make it more pleasant.

This CVS is better than its neighbor a few blocks down and I hesitate to be too critical as I’m not even sure how they could create solutions within their tiny space and with numerous panhandlers living right outside their doors.
However, there are never enough checkout attendants during busy hours and things are frequently out of stock among the narrow aisles.
On a positive, the employees here have always been pleasant to me.

Of the two CVS’s in Harvard Square this is for sure the best one. They have two levels and if you are not paying attention you might miss the stairs and be like «where is the drug store stuff», not to worry it is upstairs.
The staff is ok and their prices are ok but it is sure convenient and this is a plus for sure.

A step below the central square location. The only good thing about this place is its 24 hours.

Favourite CVS in Harvard Square (yes, there are two – go figure). But not my favourite CVS. Tricky, tricky.
It’s two levels, so you’ve got your food/​drinks/​snacks on the bottom level, alongside the makeup (I didn’t design the layout, so can’t tell you why or how that makes sense… maybe they’re more impulse-​y?)… and you must go upstairs for all your medicinal/​greeting cards/​cleaning product needs.
It’s big. It’s busy. It’s bursting at the seams with stuff. Probably why they always have CVS employees manning/​guarding the self-​checkout at the bottom of the stairs (to your right as you enter the doors). At any rate, opt for those kiosks rather than the employee-​run check-​out… it’s quicker, easier, etc. Standard CVS, but definitely the superior one in the Square!

A very run-​of-​the-​mill CVS that happens to be convenient downtown Cambridge. It has all the basics that you should need and friendly staff. My colleague picked up a few items and was in and out pretty easily. The hard part was finding the razor blades and then figuring out how to use their anti-​theft dispensing devices to actually dispense items.

I went in for a passport photo recently. They had an online coupon for $ 2 off online (
) and a promotion for another $ 2 off when you use for CVS loyalty card, so that knocked down the original $ 10 fee for the two small photos.
There was no line at the photo department (after work time on a weekday) though the rest of the store was busy. The friendly lady who took my photo was kind enough to take three shots for me to choose the best option. No matter what these photos are never your best, but she made the process as painless as possible. One star less because their machine was backed up and needed to be re-​started which meant waiting 30 – 40 minutes, but the lady took my phone number and called when they were ready. Nice customer service is always a plus!

In the battle of Harvard Square CVSs, this one comes out on top, but only by default, as the other one is only about ¹⁄₅ the size of this one.
This place is always mobbed, regardless of what time you go. The pharmacy, personal care, paper goods, etc. are located upstairs, and downstairs, they have all the food and the beauty items. There *is* an elevator here, but it is neatly tucked away in the back of the store, so it’s hard to notice at first. Walk down the make-​up aisle, and you’ll see it all the way at the end.
There are three somewhat-​new self-​checkout machines on one side of the store, and three cashiers on the other side. Very rarely does the self check-​out move as fast as the other line. But, I am guessing that a lot of that has to do with the slowness of the machines themselves, as well as the customers sometimes operating them.
The staff here needs to do a better job of keeping the shelves well-​stocked. Oftentimes, I see bare and empty shelves, especially when an item goes on sale. Totally unacceptable :-(

The checkouts are broken; employees are rude.
The pharmacists suck and have bad attitudes.
With unhonored sales and prices sky-​high,
you’ll wonder how CVS even survives.
When you need drugs, and sometimes we all do,
the pharmacy fails to release them to you.
Your medicine lost in a sea of white bags,
né’er to be rescued; they cannot read tags.
You have a quick question, which salve is the best?
The employee stands straighter and puffs out his chest,
then ignores you completely and walks right on past.
I guess all that puffing was just pent-​up gas.
A beverage, cold, to ward off the hot day,
is trapped in the fridge; there are staff in the way.
Ten minutes later, your drink is in hand.
you’ll wait twenty more, though, before it gets scanned.
So your drink is now warm and you don’t have your meds,
plus you paid twice as much as the circular said.
But despite all these losses, in one way you still win:
You’ll know better than ever to come here again.

Good: Conveniently located in Harvard Square next to the subway station.
Bad: Seems like it wants to be a convenience store first and a pharmacy second. The pharmacy counter and most of the medications are upstairs, and there’s no elevator. So if you need a refill for those pills that you take for the arthritis that makes it hard for you to climb stairs, well – tough luck. There’s another CVS in the Square where you can pick up your ibuprofen without having to climb, but it doesn’t have a pharmacy at all, so you’re out of luck if you need a prescription.
They have those self-​service checkout stations that make the customer do the work of scanning and bagging, and often don’t work right anyway, so you have to wait for the one harried employee to get around to you.

This is my local CVS and I often pop in to grab a little something, but each time seems like a headache. They have self-​checkout and standard checkout, but if you get in line to do the standard, they try to make you go to the self… even if you don’t want to or can’t (they take some student cards which can only be processed from the standard checkout section). I am one of those people and have been told by employees that they can’t do that — even after I tell them I have done it before, there was one time when I had to get the lady to call a manager because she refused. When she realized it was possible, she didn’t apologize or anything. rediculous!
Recently, I went in to get a money order and had the worst time ever. I tried to get it done downstairs at the standard checkout but it was giving an error. Then, I tried to go upstairs (where they said to go) and not only was the guy incompetent (he told me to call moneygram and another guy said it wasn’t even the same company), they still couldn’t fix the problem. They said I had bought $ 1000 worth of money orders that day when I haven’t bought ANY for YEARS… and none ever at CVS. They said it was the law and I needed to go to the post office. When I did, the post office was unaware of any laws… didn’t ask me for my ID or anything.
Thankfully, there is another CVS just a block away… I will have to check that one out.

My only well-​remembered visits to this CVS are after the renovation, so it gets four stars. Two floors, self-​checkouts, really nice staff. I was in desperate need of some hair elastics and was delighted to find them buy one, get one free. Turns out the deal was from the last week :(but the lady rang it up for me anyway! YAY!
Also the photo services man was nice and smiley.

Are two CVS stores better than one? This is a serious question, that I’ve pondered for years. I work in Harvard Square and have the luxury of being able to get whatever item I fancy whenever I want. Will this CVS have it though? If they are out of what I need, the other one down the street usually is too (and the other one down the street hardly carries everything this one does).
Are 2 floors of product better than one? This is another serious question, as I’m always kinda annoyed to have to run around this store — okay, walk and push my way past the crowd of shoppers that always seem to be at this particular CVS.
The second floor contains the photo developing place and pharmacy along with household cleaning items, oral care, items for your lady bidness, and a multitude of other necesseties, trinkets, and what have you. I don’t like that you have to walk up the stairs with your grimy, smelly, dirty, old CVS basket that probably has been touched 67 544 533 times by people. The staircase is by the registers (that always have a line of 13 deep) — I kid you not. It’s happened, many times. So, you know NO ONE will move outta your way, even if you say, «Excuse me» in the nicest way.
The saving grace of this store is they usually have everything I need. Except in the summer they would run out of SmartWater all the time and it would be warm, so I am knocking off a star.
I’m also knocking off a star because the CVS seems to be the hangout for all the crazies in Harvard Square — I don’t get uncomfortable, but I’d rather not be asked if I have spare change every single time I go here.
There is one lady that works at the register who is the most pleasant person I think CVS has ever employed, I think her name is Jackie. She will quickly and efficiently ring in your order and smile and maybe chat with you about your purchase (if you are lucky)! There is just a pleasantness about her. I enjoy her.
Plus one star, factor in all the crap this one makes you deal with and you get an A-​Ok from this fearless Unilocaler. I was going to say Yay I’m a Fan, but I’m not feeling it.
THREE STAAHS!