Following the June, 2022 closure of their 5901 Independence Avenue location, CVS Health Corporation announced last week that their store at 2435 Independence Avenue would be closing its doors by Thursday, June 13^th.

Regular CVS customers began to receive telephone calls from CVS pharmacy employees that their prescriptions would have to be transferred to a different CVS location or to another pharmacy of their choice.

The closure comes after the three largest national pharmacy chains, CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid, announced earlier this year that they would be closing over 1,800 stores nationwide in 2024. CVS stated in January of this year that roughly 1,150 locations would be impacted. In a prepared statement released to Forbes magazine in January 2024, CVS said the closures were based on “local market dynamics, population shifts, a community’s store density, and other geographic access points to meet the needs of the community.”

The Independence and Prospect store opened in 2001 as an Osco location and was shepherded through the planning and opening process by Historic Northeast Restoration Corporation, the business arm of the now-shuttered local Community Development Corporation, Old Northeast Incorporated. As part of that process, Osco officials agreed to a number of construction conditions that dictated the store setback off the street, exterior materials and color schemes so it would better conform to the surrounding architecture and character.

Additionally, as a condition of construction, store officials agreed to not seek a liquor permit due to the number of surrounding retailers that already had full package liquor permits.

In June 2022, CVS announced the closure of its 5901 Independence Avenue location citing increased costs, theft  and an aging facility. The unique, V-roofed store opened in 1959 as a Katz Drug store and weathered the buyouts from Katz, to Skaggs, to Osco and ultimately CVS.  The building was purchased and after a huge remodel-retrofit, operates as one of the El Mercado Fresco Latino grocery outlets.

According to Anthony, CVS’s store manager at the 2435 Independence Ave. location, two major factors were considered in the store’s closing. “Theft and rent,” he speculated, but declined to go into any more detail on possible reasons for closing other than the decision “came from corporate,” and the store’s numbers met a company matrix benchmark for store closings.

According to the City’s parcel viewer system, the parcels occupied by the store are owned by Brookwood Capital Group in White Bluff, Tennessee. Clicking through to the Jackson County Property tax site shows that beginning in 2018, property taxes jumped from roughly $29,000 per year, to over $46,000 in 2019. In 2023, total property taxes on the building and grounds were just under $59,000.

We reached out to Brookwood Capital in regard to potential future use but have not heard back as of press time.