Walgreens

This walgreens is usually stuffed with city dwellers, visitors and everything in between. You would think that they would staff more adequately. Everytime I go here there is always a wait. The staff does not communicate effectively with each other or their guests. On the upside, the morning staff is usually pretty on but if that is the only time of the day you care about, then close at noon.
I love walgreens and frequent this location at least 2 – 3 times a week. Please step it up.

So, I dropped a jar of jelly here today… glass shattered… super embarrassed… but the employees were so nice about it! Totally made my day. Thanks, mystery Walgreen employees!

This Walgreens, while newer than most in the Loop, kinda sucks. I’ve been here twice within the last six months for a pharmacy pick up. Twice they’ve told me that they cannot complete their order.
What the heck, you’re Walgreens and you’re a pharmacy, how could you run out of flu medication and some pretty standard prescriptions? Don’t let the shiny newness of the store distract you… call the pharmacy before you go before you go to save yourself some frustration.
Also, the lines are ridic long here– every time I’ve come here the lines are backed up into the aisle. They need to fix that!

This Walgreens was right next to the hotel I was staying at, so it was really convenient. I went there to pick up some water and snacks for the room to avoid paying for the minibar.
The store was fairly large, well kept, but mostly like every other Walgreens. Not much better or worse than any others I’ve been to. Pretty much what you would expect from a Walgreens in the city.

I came here today to do the responsible thing of getting a flu shot. It costed $ 31.99 to get a flu shot but honestly, I rather pay that then become extremely ill during the cold winters of Chicago.
Mona was the pharmacist that administered the shot. She was very friendly. This Walgreens in general is smaller than the ones I am accustomed to in California. At least it is convenient to an L stop.

WOW.
I just called to pick up a prescription that’s been ready for a few days (I’d forgotten). The pharmacist is all, hey! Someone just picked up a scrip here for the same meds and she had a $ 15 coupon! Go out to the manufacturer’s website and see if it will give you one!
I now have FOUR $ 15 off coupons!
The pharmacist here just saved me $ 60 — thank you, Pharmacist!

It’s hard to really review a place that’s not only a large chain like Walgreens but also a type of place that’s hard to evaluate like a pharmacy/​drugstore/​sundries shop.
That in mind, I have to give this place a four-​star review, because I’ve been to a lot of Walgreens and this one at least solves a few of the issues I have with Walgreens. The chain itself is notorious (in my mind, at least) for having too-​small aisles. Most of the ones in the city I’m always having to excuse myself just to get past the ONE other person in the aisle or everyone else has to excuse themselves to get past me.
I admit I’m a fat person, but I watch this phenomenon transpire between any average-​sized adults as well. That means your aisle is too small.
Maybe it’s because this place has the little shopping carts and is large enough to warrant having them to trek from one side of the store to the other. Luckily, I only needed some light bulbs. Which were hard to find because I’d never been in this location, but I got them within a few minutes. There were no employees around the store to help me find them, though. I only saw the two at the registers.
The register space is too small. There’s not enough room for people to line up at a register without either blocking other registers or blocking the tiny space between the registers and the shopping aisles. They traded wide aisleways for a narrow checkout section — but at least BOTH weren’t narrow like some I’ve been to.
The other bonus is that this place was clean. Things weren’t scattered around the shelves, there was no debris in the aisles, and the floor was looking nice as well.
Seriously — what is it with Walgreens and the giant mirrors on the walls? I understand that it’s nice to have visibility of your store for protection and to deter shoplifting, but if you want to have a setup like that, you need to at least feign vigilance. The hobo 2 feet outside from the revolving door did not help things, but when you’ve just got two visible employees and they’re busy talking to each other (when not scanning my items, which they didn’t delay with their gabbing) — what’s the point?
Walgreens is like having a Deadbeat Big Brother, who’s supposed to keep an eye on you but would prefer to watch TV.
But at least this particular deadbeat big brother is clean-​shaven and dresses nicely while not paying attention to you. Four stars, bro!

This is one of the newer Walgreens in downtown. Therefore the place still looks pretty organized inside and the employees are reasonably friendly and not automatons (yet). It’s right across from the old Berghoff.