The Duluth Clinic pharmacy in Lakeside will take very good care of you and it is just blocks away from the Falk's.

I have never picked up a prescription at Walgreens without leaving pissed off.

1. It doesn't seem that you are actually seeking recommendations, as much as you are looking for a place to complain about a bad customer-relations experience. PDD isn't really the place for that. I realize some people occasionally try to make it a place for that, but it isn't.

2. Did you attempt to get an answer from a manager or a pharmacist as to why things played out the way they did? Or did you just dash off to voice your complaints on the internet and call for a boycott because you had to wait too long?

Plaza Walgreens.

Aside from the hassle of setting up the kid's info the first time they have to have prescription meds, we've had no trouble.

Say whatcha want about the ghetto factor, they always get it done.

I always go to Cub. I've never been picky about pharmacies. I just need my seizure meds like fifty billion times a year, and they tend to be convenient.

I do think that calling for a total boycott because of one bad experience is a bit silly.

If your doctor is at all associated with the behemoth that is Essentia/SMDC, the Lakeside Duluth Clinic pharmacy is indeed very quick.

It is useful to know that other Walgreens aren't as bad/slow as the Plaza Walgreens. And I was not aware of the phone service -- nor did the clerk (either time) tell me of said service. If she had, then I would not have been there the second time four hours later, expecting something they promised in 15 minutes.

Indeed I am sad that a giant chain + threat of second giant chain is pushing out a small local chain. But I truly AM looking for recommendations -- I was not aware that the Duluth Clinic had a pharmacy in the building since we are a St Lukes family.

Whenever I have to fill a prescription (at Plaza Walgreens), I bring along a book to read or go through their magazines and tabloids. Makes the time go by faster.

Medical Arts Pharmacy does a nice job.  They are small and have good customer service and I believe they deliver too.  Craig is the pharmacist there.

Good or bad service aside, I choose not to patronize Walgreens because of their plans to tear down one historic mansion, two historic duplexes, and an almost brand-new office building to build a HUGE suburban-style Walgreens (with a drive through!) just over a block away from their Plaza store.

I'm with Tony D.  Doesn't Duluth have East Superior Street zoned any different from Miller Trunk Highway?  

Reminds me of Wal-Mart.  When Wal-Mart wants a bigger store they don't just expand the existing one.  Instead they build a bigger one on fresh land down the road and leave the old one as a zombie, empty and blighting the community for years. It's to be expected in our disposable culture, I suppose.

I'm not trying to threadjack, really, but my teachers always said I lack focus.  And apparently bitching about bad customer service is out of PDDs purview anyway.  But, addressing the way corporations behave in communities such as Duluth, when noting a local business being bought out by a large aggressive chain, seems quite relevant for a community blog.

While I understand the world pretty much begins and ends near the western tip of Lake Superior, I was actually thinking of other places when I made the Zombie Wal-Mart comment.  Forefront on my mind was the grand town of LeMars, Iowa.  Some years ago, they built a Superstore less than a mile down the highway from the other store.  Their old store remains empty, bringing blight to the community. See even the old 'small' stores are often too big to be sold or leased, so they remain empty. Over the years, I've noticed other abandoned Wal-Marts, just down the road from the new one. Some were in Northern MN, but the towns elude me - Brainerd? - I don't recall.

And, I'm not an expert on such things Bully. However, your question prompted me to do something drastic, I googled "Abandoned Wal-Mart Building".   From this search I found out that there are hundreds of zombie Wal-Marts around the country.  Some have become meth labs, others were purchased by the city to be torn down at taxpayer expense, others merely sit empty and bring down the value of surrounding property.  I read during my search that 70% of Wal-Mart buildings are leased, making it cheaper for the company to pick up and leave.  Some even say Wal-Mart saturates a new area with more stores than necessary, and then they thin them out after the competition is out of business so they don't cannibalize each other. 

At any rate, Walgreens plan to build a sprawl-style store, on our historic main street, when they already have a store a block away, reminded me of Wal-Mart's business methods.  It made me wonder, what will happen to the old building? Will it become a dead space on the street? In this economy, how long will it be empty until it's filled or redeveloped?

As to my flippant disposable culture comment:  As locally owned businesses are gobbled up by chains; I would like to see communities stand up for their interests.  Corporations are obligated to earn a return for their shareholders. If they are allowed to tear down historic buildings, build cheaply, and leave behind ugly carcasses, they will do so.  Unfortunately for us, the company's profits are private and the long term costs of their actions are public. 

Disposable - use and throw away. repeat.

Complaining about Walgreens or Wal-Mart is like complaining about pain after facepalming yourself in the forehead.  Neither of these corporations do anything without the complicity of the masses.  "Stop hitting yourself!  Stop hitting yourself!"

We start with:  how do we educate consumers with an understanding that the measure of the best deal extends beyond price?

...

As for this thread:  Walgreens builds within its legal rights on property it owns?  Oh no!  You don't like the way they build?  Lobby for xoning changes.  You don't like what happens to their old buildings?  Lobby for a TIF district around one of the abandoned sites, subdivide, and make it work.  (Hint:  you won't find the not-abandoned, repurposed Wal-Marts with a keyword search using abandoned.)  Participate.

I drop off written prescriptions and pick up meds from the Walgreens across from the Miller Hill Mall at least twice a week for a family member. I've gotten to know the pharmacists, and they're really kind people. In my experience, they do a great job of getting medicine together quickly and with care.

CVS is the rumor for the Plaza strip. Rumor is they also own the house between the strip and the gas station.

The Medical Arts Pharmacy people are nice. I got a prescription for my cat there. My prescription is one that Target and Wal-Mart are selling for $4, so I go to Target. As Target is based in Minnesota and if I am going to support a huge impersonal corporation, might as well keep it as local as possible.

Just to reiterate: I have been to walgreens before this incident, but switched to Falks Lakeside because I just hated the poor customer service I got there (at Walgreens).

My experience with smaller, stand alone stores, is that the pharmacist has enough time to actually talk to you about the stuff you're taking. Also more willing/able to do special requests.  That might be true at bigger stores, although to be honest it isn't true for me at the Plaza Walgreens and I don't have lots of other pharmacy experience.

So it sounds like there are indeed more options than I had known about:
Duluth Clinic Pharmacy in Lakeside
Medical Arts Pharmacy

Walgreens appears to have better customer service at the mall area one - and a drive through. And maybe Walgreens as a company is worth revisiting once they take over the Falks at Kenwood. 

CVS might be coming?  Possibly to the plaza.

Target has a nice pharmacy department, but is over the hill.But as far as giant corps. go they are a Minnesota company and treat their employees more or less decently.

Walmart also has a pharmacy.