Welcome Walgreens!

Walgreens opened a new flagship store in Downtown today in the old Borders Bookstore spot by the Boston Irish Famine Memorial.  If you are familiar with that location, you know that it is rather spacious.

The new store has used the space well.  The little second floor space to the left of the entrance that once offered additional seating for the cafe located within Borders now houses a separate liquor retail area, which puts this place ahead of its competitors.  Not that there is anyone on equal footing with this new shop. It is in fact a Walgreens on steroids, as in addition to the normal convenience items, cosmetics, and pharmacy, they want to be our one stop shop where we can easily pick up lunch in the same fell swoop as our tissue, office snacks, and Boston souvenir t-shirt.

For food options, they not only have the ubiquitous pre-prepared sandwiches and pre-packed pasta and fruit salads, they also have an inhouse sushi bar, bakery, and you can pick up a froyo or a smoothie in your choice of two sizes for the set price of $3.99/$4.99.

One non-food item that perked my interest was that they have flatbed scanners available at the photo gift kiosks.  Cool!