The central city of Raleigh CVS, damaged by the riots of 2020 to close

RALLY

Fayetteville Street will soon have another empty window when CVS closes its doors, claiming to be the only pharmacy in central Raleigh.

A year ago the chain of pharmacies was repaired and reopened got a big pump after being badly damaged when protests against George Floyd’s death escalated into riots and looting in the summer of 2020.

“I hardly do somersaults,” Chenet Isan said when the store reopened.

But a sign that is now hung on the door at 200 Fayetteville Street says the story will close on March 29. She informs customers that their records will be sent to 3501 New Bern Avenue – 4 miles.

“This store is needed by the residents of the center!” tweeted one upset regular who tweets MeMyselfandI. “It’s funny!”

A lifeline for some downtown

The nearest pharmacies can be found in the neighborhoods that cuddle downtown, on Person Street or Glenwood Avenue.

But while Fayetteville Street CVS is one of the small chain stores, and it has no parking, many of its pharmacy customers walk two blocks from Sir Walter Apartments, which provide affordable housing for seniors.

You can usually see homeless people buying food for a replacement, or standing in line for pharmacy buyers carrying their belongings in multiple plastic bags, fiddling with various IDs at the counter.

And the workers of the city center, who are now lacking due to the culture of working from home, who passed the pandemic, all knew April Gorski, who has been wearing a white robe of a pharmacist since 2005.

“I could tell you a lot of our clients’ names and a lot of their birthdays, ”she said at the opening last year. “It was before I could call and I wouldn’t have to look at the computer. I just knew. “

Departure on Fayetteville Street

Flipping through the old catalogs of the city of Raleigh, shows that the pharmacy has stood on this corner of the city center at least since World War II, mostly as Walgreen’s.

But with the departure of CVS the main street of Raleigh becomes more lonely.

The Kimbrell Furniture Store a neighboring house closed a few months after the pandemic, and the Rocket Fizz candy store in the quarter also stands empty. Tasty 8’s, a gourmet hot dog shop across the street, picked up and left three years ago.

Many saw the CVS as a sign of rebuilding downtown after a pandemic and damage to protests drove out its crowd.

“We looked around to see what else was in the area and who could do what we were doing, and no one responded,” said Dana Ray, the district leader, last year. “So we had to go back.”

CVS did not respond to requests for information on Monday. In November, the pharmacy giant announced that it would close 900 stores in three years, This was reported by CNNresponding to “consumer purchases”.