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Walgreens prescribes 100 area stores
"The first store will open before Christmas this year in Crafton, with plans to open 5 to 10 stores annually over the next five years," said Matthew S. Harris, Walgreen Co.'s senior real estate manager, during a retail industry conference Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
Walgreens already has identified 10 other sites in the region, although the company has not yet obtained leases or options for those properties, Harris said at the International Council of Shopping Center's 2004 Pittsburgh Idea Exchange program at the Hilton Pittsburgh & Towers, Downtown.
Walgreens, with 4,227 drugstores nationwide, is lacking in stores throughout the Northeast, having concentrated its growth recently in the Southeast, and that most of its Pennsylvania stores are in the Philadelphia area.
His remarks further confirm the Deerfield, Ill.-based chain's intention to establish a major presence in the region to compete with established chains Eckerd, CVS and Rite Aid. CVS is due to step over Walgreens as the nation's largest drug store chain once a deal is completed with J.C. Penney Co. Inc. to sell its Eckerd chain to CVS and Canada's Jean Coutu Group Inc.
Walgreens previously confirmed it has a lease for a store in Crafton, and plans for other stores surfaced in Bethel Park, Pleasant Hills, Penn Hills and in New Castle, but its plan for 100 area stores was previously unknown.
"We prefer free-standing locations with buildings of about 14,820 square feet, with space for at least 70 cars," Harris said, addressing the annual gathering of local commercial and retail real estate executives.
Walgreens was among a dozen companies that talked about expansion plans in the region at yesterday's program.
Joining the company as a new entry into the Pittsburgh market is Fifth Third Bank, which plans to initially open two retail banking locations in the region -- one in Squirrel Hill in the former Newman's store -- and one Downtown, said Hugh "Herky" Pollock, executive vice president of the C.B. Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh commercial real estate firm and co-chairman of the Idea Exchange.
Pollock said Fifth Third has selected a site Downtown, but he declined to identify the location because the current tenant has not yet been notified.
Fifth Third, Ohio's second-largest banking company behind National City Corp., last year took a step forward in its expansion efforts in the Western Pennsylvania market with the opening of a wealth management operation. The company also has had a consumer lending office in Green Tree since 1996, and is considering bringing that operation and the wealth management business together under one lease at the Gulf Tower.
Also planning a major appearance in the region is the Golden Corral Restaurant chain, which has a facility in Robinson Township and plans six additional restaurants next year, said Joe Hodge, real estate manager for Cincinnati-based Frisch's (Big Boy) Restaurant, parent company of Golden Corral.
In all, Golden Corral plans 12 restaurants throughout Western Pennsylvania, he said.
He described each restaurant as offering steak, buffet and bakery and it has between 130 to 150 employees.
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