After 40 years at the intersection of Eighth Street South and I-94, Moorhead’s oldest CVS Pharmacy is closing Feb. 25. (Photo/Nancy Hanson.)
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
After some 40 years at the corner of Eighth Street and Interstate 94, Moorhead’s CVS Pharmacy is closing Feb. 25.
The closure is part of a nationwide restructuring by the nationwide corporation, which plans to eliminate 9% of its 9,900 retail locations. The Moorhead store is among the first 300 – of a total of 900 – to be shut down early this year. The parent corporation has announced it is moving to what it calls an “omnichannel health strategy” that includes options to offer primary health care and expand its digital presence.
The shopping strip mall in which it is located was sold to Enclave Development last year. Enclave, which is also constructing a five-story apartment building directly east of the mall, has begun remodeling work on the retail property next door to the drugstore and its adjoining liquor store.
The south Moorhead drugstore has been a presence at 822 30th Ave. S. since about 1980, when it opened as part of the Buttrey Foods-Osco Drug complex in the new Southmoor Plaza. After the Albertson’s supermarket chain sold Buttrey Foods to Nash-Finch in 1986, the drugstore continued as a freestanding enterprise next door to what then became Sunmart. The grocery side of the building has stood empty for most of the years since Sunmart, later Family Fare, moved to a location kitty-corner across the major intersection around the turn of the century.
The Moorhead drugstore was included in the CVS Corporation’s purchase of about 700 Osco stores in 2006, which were rebranded with the CVS Pharmacy name.
The corporation does not permit its local store managers and employees to talk to reporters in the communities it serves. According to a news release from its national headquarters, prescriptions will be automatically transferred to the much newer CVS store at 1714 Center Ave. in Dilworth. CVS also operates the pharmacy in the Moorhead Target store and has two locations in Fargo.
In a statement distributed to the press, the corporation’s manager of retail communications, Matt Blanchette, emphasized that closing the store “was not a reflection on the hard work and dedication of our employees.” He said the Moorhead staff will be offered opportunities to transition into other area CVS operations.
