New Walgreens Downtown Flagship Store To Go "Upscale"

By Soyoung Kwak in News on Jan 8, 2012 7:00PM

The new Walgreens flagship store, opening Tuesday, will not be like any other.

The new store will offer much more than your typical drugstore notions. The store will offer manicure stations, a sushi chef, and plenty of other different departments:

The No. 1 drugstore chain's makeover won't come cheap. The new Walgreens will include a sleek cosmetics area that looks like a mini-Sephora and offers $15 manicures and eyebrow-shaping. There also will be a barista, made-to-order sushi, a juice and smoothie bar, self-serve frozen yogurt, upscale wine and spirits and a wide cheese selection—even a humidor.

On the pharmacy side, the store will staff a full-time “health guide” to act as a concierge, helping customers navigate health care options. Self-serve kiosks will allow customers to grab prescription refills quickly and there will be private consultation rooms where they can get flu shots, blood-pressure screenings and blood-glucose tests.

So, this isn't your average store makeover. This is all pretty serious, considering Walgreen Co. is supposedly looking at moving into and remodeling shuttered Borders locations across the country to make room for more upscale flagship locations. Considering there is a Walgreens store on almost every other block downtown, how much business would the flagship store take away from other Walgreens locations?