Something is terribly wrong with DC's retail business development priorities

A pedestrian walks past a Walgreens drugstore in the west Loop area of downtown Chicago on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006. The company is the nation's biggest drugstore chain by sales. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

DC has at least 48 CVS drug stores--with more on the way, according to the store locator function on their website [the Post article says 49, although that could include the not-yet-open store at 400 Massachusetts Ave. NW]. DC has 8 Rite Aid pharmacies, according to Switchboard. And most of the Giant and Safeway supermarkets in the city have pharmacy functions.

So is it really a great day for Washington that Walgreen's, another pharmacy, with a store design, layout, and set of products offered that is absolutely the same as their competitors, is attracted to DC , as discussed in today's Post story, "Walgreen to Open a Store In the District, Sources Say." From the article:

Keith Sellars, director of retail development for the nonprofit Washington D.C. Economic Partnership, said he worked with Walgreen for three years to find a location. The retailer was seeking prime real estate with heavy foot traffic, preferably near a Metro stop, he said. "They want to come in the marketplace strong," he said.

Walgreen's adds nothing to the retail environment in DC. So why spend so much time working to attract them?

How about spending serious time developing home-grown businesses, such as is done in Austin Texas or Los Angeles?

Cities like Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and of course the boroughs of New York City--especially Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, blossom with independent retail, which contributes greatly to the sense of uniqueness that these cities possess.

More of the same retail chains for Washington, DC merely makes over the retail landscape into the anywhere-nowhere shopping environment that typifies the United States more generally.

Index Keywords: retail