By: Vivien Hudec

CVS announced it would close as many as 900 stores nationwide by the end of 2024. In the town of West Hartford alone, there are now five standalone CVS Pharmacy locations. But before September 20th, there were six. Since the company wants to cut costs and focus more on the healthcare portion of the business than retail, the location on 978 Farmington Ave. has been permanently closed.

 

In order to get a primary perspective on the issue, I attempted to contact the manager of the South Main Street location, who gave his name only as "Bob". Unfortunately, no information was disclosed, as Bob claimed that "CVS stores do not allow interviews with outside sources". 

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Ally Gallant, who has lived in West Hartford all of her life, shared her opinion on the closing. This CVS has been at the center of Ally’s life, and for her, “it will be hard without it there to rely on.” Ally used to go to the Farmington Ave. CVS usually “once every two weeks,” and now she is slightly inconvenienced and has to go to the South Main St. CVS. The only benefit, according to Ally, is the convenience for vehicles, compared to the Farmington Ave. CVS, which was “a lot easier to get to” on foot.

 

While there are citizens like Ally who are upset about the closing, there are others, like West Hartford resident Justine Roditti, who are more focused on “what will replace the store slot”. She hopes that “a business that impacts the community in a positive way takes its place”.

Citations:

1. Fox61