Long loved by East Bay residents, North Oakland’s mega-drugstore will close this summer due to plans to demolish and redevelop the shopping center where it is located. For decades this one-stop-shop has been a neighborhood institution, but now the store’s landlord has declined to renew its lease, slating it to close by the end of June.

“We’re disappointed, but unfortunately without a lease we are unable to keep the store open,” says Mike DeAngelis, director of public relations for CVS, the company that currently owns the store. “It’s out of our control.”

At 90,000 square feet, the block-long store off of Broadway and Pleasant Valley Avenue is not your typical drug store. Lining the outside of this shop is a garden market containing hundreds of plants–magnolias, herbs, succulents. At the front door, there’s a shoe repair shop and a Top Dog hotdog stand. Once you get inside, you can buy just about anything, from sporting goods to house paint to automotive supplies.

To read the full story by Dara Kerr, visit OaklandNorth.net.

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