Northwest Indiana Discussion

Any truth to the story the downtown Hammond Walgreens is closing?

I haven't heard they are closing. I do know that the theft rate at that store, is one of the highest in the chain. It did slow down after the police raided a fence down the street on Sibley about 2 years ago. If you needed anything from Walgreens you just ordered it from the guy and you got it for half price.. The same thing goes on daily at Strack and Vantil which is nearby. If you know the right people, you go into the store and put all your groceries in your cart and walk away. Then a person walks up and takes the cart through the checkout, using their Link Card (welfare). They then take your groceries out to the parking lot and give them half of the total bill. I asked a person that was doing that, how do you feed your family and he laughed and pulled out 27 Link Cards. He stood there and counted them out to me. He told me I didn't know how to work the system. When the welfare office was on Hoffaman and Hohman, I went there and told them the story, they said I had no right to invade another persons private affairs. By the way, you pay for those transactions in the long run.

Done. That Walgreen location has locked its doors and posted that the location is closed. Anyone know how long they were there? It wasn't that long ago that they relocated from a few blocks away on Sibley. Dollar store or pawn shop? What will replace walgreens?

Downtown Hammond....on the rebound.

I am not surprised they closed. I had stopped there several times when I have gone to Stracks. EVERY time my husband and I had gone there, we have been hit up for money by street people. People were eyeing us when we were going in and out of the building, casing us.
We quit going there, even when we would go to Stracks for groceries. We started going out of our way, to the Walgreens at Columbia and 165th.

Before a Walgeen store is ever thought of being built at any location, they examine any and all conditions of the area. Sometimes they make mistakes and they just close up and leave. That's what happened to the one on Sibley... Very seldom do you see Walgreens do this. But they did in Hammond. Now that tells you something. Is downtown Hammond going to slip away, more than it has in the past?
While I mention the downtown area. After they closed the new parking lot , eliminating overnight parking and closing the lot at 11 pm, what about the van's from that school in the old Jack Fox building, that use the lot all night long. Something strange about the whole thing. If they allow the school to use the lot, why was the Aquvour forced to close because of the parking issue. If I owned that night club and the city pulled tricks like that on me, you would see me sue the very next day. They claim that club cost 2 million. with that kind of investment, what is holding the owner back, or do they have something to hold over head. For folks not familar about politican's, they do use that type of leaverage.

Walgreens is actually downsizing across the country. They announced it a few months ago

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014 ... ance-boots

What will replace Walgreens? A baseball field, a dollar store....maybe a Tiffany jeweler or a Ferrari dealership.

Actually they are not downsizing. They still expect an increase in the number of stores of between 55 and 75. They are shuttering unprofitable stores.

I'm glad Bert checked the link and read through the story to reflect the reality. Another reality check is the quote from the Walgreen chief executive's stated goal to "optimize our footprint and ensure our stores remain at the best corners of America.” I guess State and Stateline is not one of those corners.

Speaking of Walgreens, the old Walgreen's store location, which was a dive, was purchased by the city of Hammond from a blind trust...

The Thomas McDermott Jr administration purchased the lot, in a decaying part of Hammond for $1,000,000.

Because of the inflated value, I wonder if Jr himself put a couple of scheckles in his pocket?

That price paid for a piece of land worth at best, $50,000 was more exploitation of Hammond's residents. Another couple of land trust profited very well from the building of the Hammond Charter School.

Some have drawn other analogizes questioning other real estate transactions, on of which the sale of McDemott's most recent campaign headquarters resulting in $300k in profit for one of Tom's supporters.

Just business as usual McDermott's people make money and we pay for it.