The CVS pharmacy at 8911 Ogden Ave. in Brookfield will close in July, the Landmark has learned, with a commercial real estate investment firm listing the 12,704-square-foot retail store for lease “available immediately” last week.
Matthew Blanchette, senior manager of retail communications for CVS, confirmed that the Ogden Avenue store will close July 20. All prescriptions will be transferred to the CVS Pharmacy at 9139 Broadway Ave., Blanchette said, and employees of the Ogden Avenue store are being offered “comparable roles within the company.”
“Maintaining access to pharmacy services in the communities we serve is an important factor we consider when making store closure decisions,” Blanchette said. “Other factors include local market dynamics, population shifts, a community’s store density, and ensuring there are other geographic access points to meet the needs of the community.”
In late 2021, CVS Health announced that following a strategic review of its retail business, the company would begin the process of closing 300 stores in the United States annually from 2022 to 2024.
The store at 8911 Ogden Ave. has been in operation since 2003. At the time, the pharmacy company signed a long-term lease that was set to expire Jan. 31, 2029. The lease also included a tenant option for 10 five-year extensions.
But the fact that there was another CVS in Brookfield – one the company in recent years renovated to create space for a CVS MinuteClinic and a CVS HealthHUB, which offer expanded health services and products – appears to have been a factor in the decision.
In 2021, CVS spent about $300,000 on the interior remodel of the Broadway Avenue store and spent another $45,000 to upgrade the parking lot in 2022.
“Obviously, it always worried us with two stores [in Brookfield] that one of them would close,” Brookfield Village Manager Wiberg said. “But they’ve invested quite a bit in the Eight Corners store, and it was my impression that they always had placed a higher interest in the Eight Corners store.”
CVS leases the store on Broadway Avenue from Oakbrook Terrace-based Gonsa Field LLC, which purchased the property in 2007.
Wiberg said that while the loss of CVS on Ogden Avenue would be a blow, “the village will work with whoever to get a successful business there. We want to ensure the vibrancy of Ogden Avenue.”
As for what will replace CVS on Ogden Avenue, the Landmark learned from someone connected to the Ogden Avenue store that the location would be giving way to a Dollar General store. The Landmark could not independently confirm that claim.
Steve Schwartz, senior vice president for the commercial real estate firm JLL which is listing the property for lease, responded to an inquiry from the Landmark last week with a statement revealing few details.
“JLL can confirm there are discussions relating to the future occupancy of the property at 8911 Ogden Avenue,” Schwartz said in an email through JLL’s public relations firm. “Should the current tenant decide to vacate the premises, we will be responsible for identifying a future tenant at the location. Given discussions are ongoing, we will not have any further comment.”
As recently as June 14, the property had been listed for sale online at a list price of more than $4 million. The listing had marketed the property as a turnkey investment occupied by a tenant on a long-term lease.
The following day, the property was being advertised “for lease” by JLL, a commercial real estate investment firm with offices across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
JLL does not own the property, said a spokesman for the company. The Cook County Recorder of Deeds has not recorded a transfer of ownership for the property since 2021.
