Walgreens Expands Fresh Offering

Walgreens (Deerfield, Ill.) has redesigned 10 of its stores on Chicago’s South and West Sides to include more than 750 new food items, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen meats and fish, pasta, rice, beans, eggs, whole grain cereals and other healthy meal components.

Locations include: 2340 W. Madison St. (Madison St. & Western Ave.); 10300 S. Michigan Ave. (Michigan Ave. & 103rd St.); 1533 E. 67th Place (67th Place & Stony Island); 1213 W. 79th St. (79th St. & Racine Ave.); 5036 S. Cottage Grove Ave. (Cottage Grove Ave. & 51st St.); and 8636 S. Ashland Ave. (Ashland Ave. & 87th St.). Four additional locations will be completed by the end of the month.

More than 600,000 Chicago residents are reported to live in neighborhoods that are either lacking or too far away from conventional grocery stores, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last spring, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley appealed to Walgreens, for help in addressing the food problem.

“Walgreens has taken great pride in meeting the needs of Chicago communities since opening our first store on the city’s South Side 109 years ago,” says Mark Wagner, Walgreens executive vp, operations and community management. “Today, we couldn’t be more pleased to provide additional basic staples that will inevitably help improve health outcomes for many in these previously underserved communities.”

Walgreens says it’s reviewing opportunities to bring the expanded food concept to other cities. “We know this issue is not exclusive to Chicago,” says Wagner. “We have more locations in America’s underserved communities than any other retailer. That makes us well positioned to play a role in addressing this important need beyond Chicago.”

The drugstore chain operates more than 7500 locations and reported fiscal 2009 sales of $63 billion.