Four now-vacant Walgreens pharmacies around Colorado Springs could see new logos aglow in their large lit window facades in the coming years.

But what is a good fit for the former stand-alone pharmacies along some of the most highly trafficked corridors in town?

Experts and neighbors weighed in on the possibilities as Walgreens continues to close stores nationally. 

The four shuttered stores in town represent just a handful of the 1,200 locations that Walgreens is planning to close, according to an October 2024 announcement. The company, like other drugstores, has run into problems with high theft rates, lower prescription reimbursement and online competition, according to The Associated Press. In August, Walgreens was purchased by a private equity firm and split into five companies. 

Walgreens said in a brief response to Gazette questions that it had leased four buildings in town and new tenants would have to sublease. 

“We make every effort to sublease locations, as finding a new tenant is beneficial to the community, consumers and our business,” the statement said. 

The four shuttered locations in town include two along Platte Avenue, one at Union Boulevard and one at Murray Boulevard. Two more closed along Academy Boulevard, one at Chelton Road and one at Flintridge Drive. 

Commercial real estate agent John Winsor sees the potential for specialty grocers, gyms or medical spas to move into the midsize commercial buildings. 

“The open floor plan gives a lot of flexibility as to who might go in there,” said Winsor, the director of retail and restaurant transactions for the Olive Real Estate Group in Colorado Springs. 

Around the country, Walgreens are starting to house a variety of businesses, such as a Harley-Davidson dealership that opened on New York’s Staten Island and a Sketchers shoe store planned to open in Arkansas. 

With the high cost of construction materials currently, it is cheaper to renovate existing commercial space than to build from the ground up, Winsor said. The buildings are also large enough they could serve two tenants. El Paso County property records show the four Walgreens locations in town range in size from about 13,800 square feet to about 15,200 square feet. 

For Leila Gibson-Green, a long-time community organizer in southeast Colorado Springs, the closure of the Walgreens near Chelton and Academy in April came as a surprise. The number of drugstores is low and shrinking with the expected loss of the pharmacy inside the Safeway on Murray Boulevard. The Safeway is one of two closing in town. 

Now shoppers in the southeastern neighborhoods have more limited options for pharmacies in their area, such as the pharmacy in King Soopers and the neighborhood Walmart, both on Academy Boulevard. At least some folks are choosing to drive to the Walgreens in Security-Widefield, the closest alternative, or to more northern locations, Gibson-Green said. 

“I would just love to see something there that is going to be beneficial for the whole community,” Gibson-Green said, noting the area needs more food and pharmacy options for those who don’t have transportation.

A CVS was planned at Fountain and Murray boulevards, but the building became a sporting goods store specializing in guns and knives instead, she noted. 

The former Walgreens at Platte and Union could serve the neighbors as a small grocery store or library, said Savanah McDaniel, a Knob Hill resident. The building is across Union from the boundary of the Knob Hill neighborhood. 

“There is not a library that is easily walkable or bikeable, not a space that kids can go in their neighborhood for free,” she said. 

But the biggest concern is the building staying vacant, falling into disrepair and becoming less desirable to a future tenant, McDaniel said. 

A fifth former Walgreens on West Colorado Avenue that closed in 2024 shows there’s hope for the husks of former drugstores. 

A Planet Fitness is moving into the building and it’s scheduled to open Dec. 13, Jennifer Sloan, a spokeswoman for the new gym, said.