The CVS Pharmacy at 2300 Shattuck Avenue has posted a sign announcing that the store will close June 15, as first reported by Berkeleyside.
According to Berkeleyside, the sign was first noticed May 25. This closure is only one of many as CVS plans to reduce its locations by 900 stores nationwide during the next three years.
Other pharmacy chains such as Walgreens, which recently shut down a pharmacy on Telegraph Avenue, are also downsizing locations, according to Berkeleyside.
Monica Prinzing, a spokesperson for CVS Health’s western region, described the decision to close the pharmacy on 2300 Shattuck Avenue as “difficult.”
“We’ll continue to provide the Berkeley community with outstanding service at our other convenient locations in the area,” Prinzing said in an email. “We also offer prescription home delivery service to eligible patients through CVS.com and the CVS Pharmacy app to provide additional convenient access to medications.”
Prinzing stated factors that determined which stores to close include local market dynamics, population shifts, store density and the geographic accessibility of other locations, especially with regard to underserved communities.
According to Prinzing, both the prescriptions and store employees at the Downtown Berkeley CVS will be transferred to other CVS locations to ensure “uninterrupted” service.
She noted that there are more than 40 CVS Pharmacies in total throughout Alameda County — including four in Berkeley — that can meet people’s health and wellness needs after the closure.
Stefan Elgstrand, a spokesperson for Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín’s office, added that Berkeley residents can pick up their prescriptions at alternative locations throughout the city.
“While it is disappointing to see the Downtown location close, residents still have an option of traveling to other CVS locations at North Shattuck and Telegraph, which are about a mile away each, or the CVS Pharmacy located a couple blocks away at the Downtown Target store,” Elgstrand said in an email.
Tami Cate, a spokesperson at University Health Services, or UHS, said while students with SHIP insurance can save money by filling their prescriptions through the campus pharmacy, students who receive prescriptions from outside sources may be affected.
However, UHS has addressed recent pharmacy closures by reaching out to students to let them know about alternative ways to obtain their prescriptions.
“It is unfortunate that this pharmacy location is closing along with the Walgreens Pharmacy that recently closed on Telegraph and it will impact students who have been getting their prescriptions there,” Cate said in an email. “We were aware that these pharmacies are closing and have sent messages to students…so they can make arrangements to have them transferred to another local pharmacy.”