Urban Jacksonville

The past few weeks a rumor has been floating around the neighborhood: “Toney Sleiman wants to bring a Walgreens in Springfield.” The one good thing to come out of my visit to Club Paris on Friday night was the chance to talk to Toney Sleiman about this rumor.

I tracked Toney down as he was moving in and out of the crowd and asked him about his plans to bring a Walgreens to Springfield. He did confirm the rumor. He told me he has been wanting to put a Walgreens in Springfield for quite some time now. At this point in the conversation Toney would not confirm any type of progress or timeline. He only confirmed the rumor was true and promised to meet with me in two weeks for an interview.

The top location contender is the ABC Liquors at the corner of 8th Street and Davis. ABC is a most horrible shopping experience. If you can dodge the guy peeing in the corner when you go in, you are about a 1/3 of your way through the miserable journey. Next you wait, sometimes forever, for a turn to place your order at the bars protecting the entire store. Now you just have to avoid the panhandlers on the way to your car and you are home free. While technically not in Springfield*, a Walgreens will serve the community 100% better than the ABC Liquors.

*I’m told the area between Boulevard and I-95, where the ABC is located, is called Sugar Hill.

tags: springfield, walgreens

This entry was posted on Monday, July 3rd, 2006 at 4:25 am and is filed under Springfield. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

DerekHudson

If I remember correctly, the alley closing was something Walgreens would not move on. There were also architectural consideratins that neither the neighborhood nor Walgreens would budge on (Walgreens wanted one of their standard stores, the neighborhood wanted something that looked more historic); I really hand it to the neighborhood and HPC representatives for protecting the future historic integrity of Main St. As convenient as it would have been to have the Walgreens in that location, what Walgreens wanted there didn't fit. Our revitalization must be done correctly if it is going to be a long-lasting one.
thelakelander

Why would an alley need to be closed? Was he putting in more than just a Walgreens? Did SPAR or somebody suggest a layout that keeps the alley open and works with the Walgreens footprint?
DowntownParks

I wouldnt have minded that one so much. I didnt like the plan where they were going to build in Gateway park...
Derek

One of the previous locations that he had looked is where The Lofts on Main are being built. That location fell through because the neighborhood refused to let the alley be closed which would have removed an entrance drive (the only one any of my cars can make it up without bottoming out) from the SPAR Council office. I'm kind of glad the neighborhood held out on that one.
Uturn

"If we have an urgent need for Liquor we usualy leave the neighborhood or just stay sober"

Lol!! Dan, you're a hoot :)
daniel

We have been hearing these rumors for years. The last proposed site was at the park on 8th and Blvd. You are right about the ABC. If we have an urgent need for Liquor we usualy leave the neighborhood or just stay sober.

A Walgreens for Springfield?

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