Black Columbia leaders incensed by Walgreens closing in area with few other options
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately affected African Americans, it is “unconscionable” for Walgreens, a national corporate giant, to close one of the only pharmacy options available to several majority black Columbia neighborhoods, local leaders say.
“One of the key factors when they talk about health disparities is having access to health care,” said J.T. McLawhorn, president and CEO of the Columbia Urban League, speaking at a news conference Friday at the NAACP headquarters on North Main Street. “This community is considered a community with vulnerable adults, older people, people who have challenges like high blood pressure, diabetes and so forth. And we think it’s just really unconscionable for a store to move out of this neighborhood.”
The Walgreens drug store at 5900 North Main St. is slated to close next Thursday, June 11, a move that has surprised and disappointed many nearby residents and loyal customers. The company could not be immediately reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Thomas Mackey, who lives just about a mile from the store and shopped there Friday, said people in the area are “dependent on this store.”
“I’ve heard too many people say, when I shop at the Piggly Wiggly, that they were disappointed (Walgreens is) closing so quickly,” said Mackey, 73.
The next closest pharmacies are a pair of CVS stores at 4627 North Main St. and at 3700 Two Notch Road. But for many low-income, elderly and otherwise disadvantaged residents in the area, many of whom lack reliable transportation, the loss of the Walgreens will prove to be a burden and, ultimately, a barrier to adequate health care, McLawhorn and other local leaders say.
The pharmacy’s abandonment of the community is practically “a civil rights issue,” said Donald Gist, a local civil rights attorney and North Main business leader.
“When we go back and balance the equities, our dollars are green, whether you are African American, Hispanic or ... Caucasian,” Gist said. “This is not just about profits. It’s about saving lives, but it’s also about saving black lives.”
The closure is “almost criminal,” said Brenda Murphy, the president of the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP.
“I am gravely concerned about COVID-19 and what is happening in our communities today ... and to snatch away that resource, it is just of great, great concern,” Murphy said.
Gist and Murphy spoke alongside McLawhorn and other prominent local African American leaders Friday in decrying Walgreens’ decision to close the pharmacy.
State Sen. John Scott, D-Richland, said he’s lived for more than 60 years in the communities surrounding North Main Street and that he, like many of his neighbors, often visit the Walgreens multiple times a week.
“I see a lot of neighbors (there), and they’re asking the question, ‘Where are we going to go now?’ and ‘Why is this happening to us?’” Scott said. “It is just so unfair for a corporate giant to behave that way to this community.”
Scott said Walgreens corporate leaders had not been responsive to his efforts to communicate with them recently.
Columbia City Councilman Sam Davis, who represents the area, said a company that is “interested in helping make a difference in the lives of the people they serve and making a contribution to the quality of life of the people who depend on them” would not leave so quickly.
“When you’re needed, you don’t turn your back,” Davis said.
A pharmacy has stood in that location on North Main for decades, including as Rite Aid and Eckerd, before most recently being bought out by Walgreens around two years ago. Mackey noted that the store had improved since it became a Walgreens.
Scott said it was concerning that Walgreens would choose to purchase the store only to close it within such a short time.
Walgreens announced last August that it planned to close 200 stores — about 3% of its locations — across the country, USA Today and other media reported. It did not reveal a list of stores it would close.
Murphy warned that the closure of the pharmacy in the core of one of Columbia’s largely black communities could be a bellwether for other African American communities across the state and nation.
“If it’s happening here, I’m certain it’s being planned for other areas as well,” she said.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 3:03 PM.
