OLD SAYBROOK – The familiar CVS/Pharmacy on Main Street will soon close and will be relocated to its new store on Boston Post Road.
CVS has retained a 7,500 square foot presence at 154 Main Street since 1994 and is currently the only pharmacy on Main Street.
It will close for the last time on Friday, January 20 at 9 p.m. while the new store will open at 9 a.m. on Saturday, January 21.
Their new store in Old Saybrook at 519 Boston Post Road, near the junction of Boston Post Road and Stage Road, is almost twice as big at 13,000 square feet.
Drivers will access the store from a full entrance/exit on Stage Road and a right turn entrance only from Boston Post Road.
The architecture of the building was influenced by the desire of the Planning and Zoning Commissions and the Architectural Review Board to make it fit in with the town.
These boards wanted the store to have a similar feel as the Saybrook Country Barn and the CVS on Main Street in
Glastonbury.
The building features white siding with stone walls, windows with shutters, and gooseneck lighting on shoe-box type light poles.
Instead of large red neon signage, the building will feature two small unlighted signs with gold letters over a maroon background.
A small monument sign will be erected in front of the building.
Sidewalks will allow pedestrians to walk to the store from the nearby Saybrook Junction Marketplace.
The 25 employees working at the Main Street store will be transferred to the new store and additional hiring will be made as needs are evaluated, said Mike DeAngelis, Manager of Corporate Communications for CVS.
“We are opening this store as part of out strategy to relocate older smaller stores to new freestanding sites that are more convenient and accessible to our customers,” said DeAngelis.
Regional CVS stores which have relocated to newer, larger, freestanding buildings include the East Lyme and Waterford locations.
CVS will be the first current pharmacy with a freestanding building in Old Saybrook competing against the Wal-Mart Pharmacy and the Super Stop & Shop Pharmacy, both in the Old Saybrook Shopping Center.
“This larger store will feature a drive-thru pharmacy window, as all of our new stores do. The increased square footage allows us to widen aisles and lower shelf heights to make the store easier to navigate,” DeAngelis said.
According to the CVS website, the new layout of CVS stores feature a corner main entrance leading customers inside to a center walkway with parallel aisles on both sides.
Like its Main Street location, the store will have a one-hour photo service.
CVS will be the first pharmacy in Old Saybrook to feature a drive-thru for pick-up and drop-off of prescriptions.
The two-lane drive-thru will be located in the rear of the building.
The store will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. while the pharmacy will be open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The opening comes at a time when construction is expected to start this year which could create more competition to the region.
Walgreens plans to open a pharmacy with drive-thru in Westbrook on Route 1 near town center and the other in Deep River on Route 154 across from Adam’s.
CVS/Pharmacy has 6,157 stores in 44 states with 131 locations in Connecticut while Walgreens has 4,701 stores in 47 states with 59 locations in the state.
