Dorchester is losing another pharmacy and retail store next month. In an email sent out last week, Walgreens informed customers that its store at 757 Gallivan Blvd. will shut down on April 28.

The shutdown is part of a national culling by the national chain, which has been hemorrhaging money and intends to close eight other locations in Massachusetts and 1,500 across its 6,000-store system.

At first blush, it seems like a bad time to have yet another retail option go dark in the neighborhood, particularly along that stretch of Gallivan near Neponset Circle.

There have been two high-profile vacancies across the street for several years now in what used to be a Verizon mobile phone store (slated to become a cannabis dispensary next) and a Bank of America branch, which sits unused save for a cluster of e-vehicle charging stations.

The sting of losing the Walgreens, which has been the anchor at the strip mall on Gallivan since a Stop & Shop supermarket on the site closed in the 1980s, is eased by the close-by presence of three CVS pharmacies.

And, perhaps, the end of the road for Walgreens might be the opportunity to re-invent what could be a much more appealing and active commercial site.

The Reporter learned this week that the entire shopping plaza at 757 Gallivan Blvd. is currently on the market for sublease. It’s offered through Atlantic Retail, a Boston-based commercial real estate company with offices across the United States. The whole shopping plaza will soon be available, as the leases of the other three stores on the site end in December, according to a pamphlet that details the offer.

Ben Starr, a leading broker with Atlantic Retail, isn’t personally engaged in the 757 Gallivan property. But he’s very familiar with the site and the overall Boston market, which he says remains exceptionally strong. Starr notes that retail clusters like South Bay Mall and the Fields Corner shopping center are fully occupied and, by his take, doing quite well.

“Boston, from end to end, is very attractive to retailers nationally,” Starr told us. “And that location on Gallivan— right off the expressway— is so well-positioned.”

Perhaps the short-term loss of Walgreens could lead to the gain of a new, exciting use on Gallivan. Case-in-point: A former Walgreen’s location on Warren Street in Roxbury will soon be converted into a Vicente’s Supermarket, owned by a Cape Verdean family based in Brockton.

The Gallivan location could be even more coveted by a big-name retailer— or two— given its size and proximity to the highway and major throughways.

-Bill Forry

Don’t rush liquor licensings

A story in this week’s Reporter about the dearth of liquor license applicants in Mattapan has already generated a good deal on input from readers online.

The story details the city of Boston’s frustration at only getting one applicant so far for one of the 15 licenses set aside for Mattapan specifically. Several commenters on our affiliated social platforms, it seems, agree with Rep. Russell Holmes’s sentiment that officials should be patient and not rush applicants into a proposal that might not be ready for prime time.

“If it takes a little longer, that’s fine with me,” Holmes said. “We put those protections in there so it doesn’t go to another neighborhood…We will have licenses available when our businesses are ready.”

We tend to agree with Rep. Holmes on this one. We definitely support more sit-down restaurants with beer, wine, and full-alcohol licenses on Blue Hill Avenue and River Street, for example, but we don’t need to flood the zone with booze to make the neighborhood more viable.

Let’s give entrepreneurs and merchants time and space to figure out if this opportunity makes sense for their prospective or existing businesses — and support the new ventures that will be popping up soon enough in traditionally underserved districts.
-BF