- Credibility:
WICKER PARK — CVS is closing its retail store and pharmacy at the corner of Ashland Avenue and Division Street in Wicker Park.
The location in the historic Home Bank and Trust Company Building, 1200 N. Ashland Ave., will close March 7, spokesperson Amy Thibault said Thursday.
Prescriptions will be transferred to the CVS Pharmacy at 771 N. Ogden Ave., although patients can also transfer prescriptions to any other CVS location or pharmacy of their choice. All employees at the store “are being offered comparable roles within the company,” Thibault said.
The store’s closing is part of a larger plan CVS announced in 2021 to close around 900 stores over three years, Thibault said. The company considers several factors when deciding to close locations, including population shifts, the density of the surrounding neighborhood and “local market dynamics,” Thibault said.
“We closed 300 stores in 2022 as planned and are planning to close another 300 or so this year. The realignment is based on our evaluation of changes in population, consumer buying patterns and future health needs to ensure we have the right kinds of stores in the right locations for consumers,” Thibault said in an email.
Credit: Quinn Myers/Block Club ChicagoThe Home Bank and Trust Company Building is a prominent landmark on Chicago’s Polish Triangle, which was once the epicenter of the city’s Polish community.
Designed by Karl M. Vitzthum & Co., the building was completed in 1926. Additional tenants besides CVS occupy its upper floors.
“Built in the heart of Chicago’s historic ‘Polish Downtown,’ this monumental Classical Revival-style building is ornamented with finely-carved low-relief sculpture and has a dramatic banking hall,” according to a landmark plaque attached to the building.
The news of the closing comes less than a month after Walgreens announced it will close its flagship Wicker Park store in the historic Noel State Bank building, 1601 N. Milwaukee Ave. at the end of January.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club ChicagoThe branch’s ornate interior and repurposed bank features were well known among architecture buffs, tourists and TikTok-ers, especially the Vitamin Vault, which stores rows of vitamins in the former vault in the building’s basement.
Walgreens opened the store in 2012 after two years of restorations.
The company is renovating its other Wicker Park location a few blocks south at 1372 N. Milwaukee Ave., which is closed except for a mobile pharmacy set up in the parking lot.
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