Prescription for success: Walgreen’s open on Chapman

Seymour continues to expand, and newer and larger businesses are moving into the area. The latest of these is Walgreen’s, a full-service pharmacy located at 11305 Chapman Highway at the intersection of Highways 441 and 411, which officially opened on February 3. Walgreen’s offers a wide variety of items in addition to prescription goods. Available there are personal items and toiletries, books and magazines, snacks, and a large inventory of vacation and travel needs, as well as a photo center that can develop your snapshots or create a compact disc from your film or disposable camera. Walgreen’s started over 101 years ago in April of 1901, on the rough south side of Chicago. C. R. Walgreen Sr. borrowed money from family and friends to open his first store to the public that year and soon began to see amazing growth. By 1920 there were more than 40 Walgreen’s stores, and the company weathered the Great Depression to emerge stronger than before. Throughout the intervening years, they have met the challenges that have humbled other, larger corporations and have proceeded with steady expansion. Now the chain operates almost 4000 units in the United States and Puerto Rico, and opens a new store about every 17 hours. Director of Media Relations Carol Hively spoke with The Herald about the new store opening. “Tennessee is an especially good market for us,” Hively said, “And we currently have 148 stores open in the state. Areas where tourists are likely to come through are always good locations for a drug store – we carry a lot of the things you might need on vacation.” Drug stores are one retail sector that seems to be bucking the downtrend in the economy. “It’s not hard to see why that is,” Hively said. “You will always need personal items, and sales of prescriptions are actually trending upward.” This success has garnered accolades for the chain, which is one of the most lauded retail outlets nationwide, and is highly regarded on Wall Street. Walgreen’s features several high-tech services that make life for their customers easier. “We have the ability to print prescription labels – the ones that are actually attached to the bottle – in eight different languages,” Hively told The Herald. “Also, all of our stores are linked by satellite, so that no matter where you are in the U.S. you can always have the most recent and updated information on your prescription available.” In addition, the new location sports a convenient drive-through window for customers on the go. The general manager of the store, Robert Powell, has been with Walgreen’s for six years, with close to three years as a manager, and oversees seventeen employees at the Seymour unit. Powell is a Nashville native. His pharmacy manager, Angela Spreng, has also been with Walgreen’s for six years. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee. The hours of operation for the new store are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The pharmacy is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The general phone number for the main store is 579-0791, and the pharmacy can be reached at 579-3141. Walgreen’s joins several other area pharmacies including Seymour AdValue Pharmacy (577-0471) and Krogers (429-1451) in Seymour as well as CVS Pharmacy and The Medicine Shoppe in South Knoxville.