Walgreens renovated and restored an old bank building in Chicago's Wicker Park.  The store has become somewhat of a tourist attraction.  Similarly, CVS moved into an old ornate bank space one subway stop down, and did a nice job.  But this Walgreens sure made a grand slam on this.

 

Here is what you see immediately when you enter the store through the vestibule

 

Here is the view from the Mezzanine which has cosmetics, beauty counters, etc.

 

Near the entrance, escalators take you downstairs to the pharmacy.  The waiting area for the pharmacy and clinic look like something from a 5-star luxury hotel.  But the coolest thing is the Vitamin vault

 

Nicest pharmacy I've ever seen

 

Heading back upstairs you see the ornate entranceway.

 

more photos to come I just need to get them off my phone.

That's awesome. Thanks for the pics.

I do have to give it up for Walgreen's, some of their new stores are actually really well designed around Chicago with "out of the box" features like the shopping basket that can be carried with handles, or rolled around on wheels when you extend the handle.  Also, the LED backlit shelving, and highly polished concrete flooring.  This one in Wicker Park is amazing, and that new flagship on State St are first class for a mediocre drugstore.  At a birthday party this summer (in Chicago), some of my snobby friends from NYC were commenting how Duane Reade stores in NYC had really upped their game and become really nice...not like "a crappy Walgreen's".  I was happy (and smug) to tell them that their beloved Duane Reade was actually now owned by Chicago based (flyover country) Walgreen's...and that is probably why some have improved :clap:

I do have to give it up for Walgreen's, some of their new stores are actually really well designed around Chicago with "out of the box" features like the shopping basket that can be carried with handles, or rolled around on wheels when you extend the handle.  Also, the LED backlit shelving, and highly polished concrete flooring.  This one in Wicker Park is amazing, and that new flagship on State St are first class for a mediocre drugstore.  At a birthday party this summer (in Chicago), some of my snobby friends from NYC were commenting how Duane Reade stores in NYC had really upped their game and become really nice...not like "a crappy Walgreen's".  I was happy (and smug) to tell them that their beloved Duane Reade was actually now owned by Chicago based (flyover country) Walgreen's...and that is probably why some have improved :clap:

 

No Duane Reade is still crappy!  It's a package retail store.  You can find one, sometimes two, along with a Starbucks, McDonalds, Gap (or banana), & a Chase.

Too bad that as corporate, they still rank up there with CVS, Rite Aid and others with generic crap everywhere else. They just won approval in Covington, Kentucky to demolish a historic courthouse fronting a beautiful brick street - done so partially because of the house and the church across the street, for a generic corner store. The zoning called for at least a two-story, built out to the street development, but we are getting frontage parking lots shielded with a "beautiful" fence and landscaping. Bleh.

I do have to give it up for Walgreen's, some of their new stores are actually really well designed around Chicago with "out of the box" features like the shopping basket that can be carried with handles, or rolled around on wheels when you extend the handle.  Also, the LED backlit shelving, and highly polished concrete flooring.  This one in Wicker Park is amazing, and that new flagship on State St are first class for a mediocre drugstore.  At a birthday party this summer (in Chicago), some of my snobby friends from NYC were commenting how Duane Reade stores in NYC had really upped their game and become really nice...not like "a crappy Walgreen's".  I was happy (and smug) to tell them that their beloved Duane Reade was actually now owned by Chicago based (flyover country) Walgreen's...and that is probably why some have improved :clap:

 

No Duane Reade is still crappy!  It's a package retail store.  You can find one, sometimes two, along with a Starbucks, McDonalds, Gap (or banana), & a Chase.

There's a Duane Reade on Lafayette & Spring Sts in a former bank that looks similar--

 

http://theshophound.typepad.com/the_shophound/2010/08/today-in-drugstores-does-your-local-duane-reade-look-like-this-part-ii-.html

 

CVS did the same thing in Chelsea--

http://theshophound.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e6b169e2014e604f2ebb970c-500wi

 

As far as the new look of the Duane Reades, I believe that process had already begun long before Walgreens took over; but the makeover of the stores also resulted in a reduced number of items available. I never really liked DR anyway. Their prices are higher than the other chains, and they never have as many sale items as Rite-Aid or Walgreens.

thanks for sharing.

 

is that you in the last photo? that guy looks just like your icon!

Vitamin Vault for the win!

thanks for sharing.

 

is that you in the last photo? that guy looks just like your icon!

 

That's actually Ludacris (from 6 years ago)

Wonder if Ludacris would like to have it said he looks just like the kid from Boondocks, lol.

 

Nice Walgreen's.

Wonder if Ludacris would like to have it said he looks just like the kid from Boondocks, lol.

 

Nice Walgreen's.

 

Off topic, but Thugnificent aka Otis Jenkins on the Boondocks series was pretty considered a representation of Ludacris.  And of course...Huey never cared much for Thugnificent in the series.

This Walgreens is the only one I've ever been in where I got good service.  Even had a guy in a suit to greet people and it was like 10pm on a Saturday night (though its in a 24 hour part of the city - a place where people hang out even at 3am on weekdays).  For as lousy as they usually are, Walgreens treats its hometown very well.  The stores here carry all kinds of extra stuff you don't find at locations in other parts of the country for instance.

 

I remember telling people about it in Ohio over Christmas and they were blown away, someone I knew even compared it to Taco Bell in Demolition Man. :P

we have a similar cvs drugstore right across the street from us thats in a big old bank building like that.

 

when you think about it maybe drugs and banks do go well together!