(Image: Google Maps)
There will be another hole to fill at 23rd and Jackson. The neighborhood’s Walgreens is slated to close in May.
“Our Jackson Street store will close on May 19, 2026. Customers can continue to fill prescriptions at this location until the closing date,” a spokesperson for the Illinois-based pharmacy chain tells CHS.
Walgreens is directing customers to its 412 Rainier Ave S store for their prescription needs after May 19th. Customers from the Jackson store will “remain eligible for free prescription delivery for 90 days,” the spokesperson said.
CHS has asked why Walgreens isn’t directing customers to its Broadway or 15th Ave E pharmacies which are both about a mile closer than the Rainier location.
Walgreens informed employees at the Jackson store about the closure earlier this week.
The shuttering will join another big chain exit that has left a retail hole in the area around 23rd and Jackson. CHS reported here in January on the abrupt closure of the neighborhood’s 35,000-square-foot Amazon Fresh as part of a nationwide shutdown of the retail giant’s non-Whole Foods grocery ventures.
Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth has said she is working to recruit a new grocery for the space.
Hollingsworth also worked with former Mayor Bruce Harrell and to forge the city’s ban on “negative use restrictions” officials say limit the reopening of grocery stores and pharmacies by other companies as Seattle faces ongoing big chain shutdowns.
The Amazon Fresh closure came amid a $171 million property deal as Vulcan Real Estate sold off the Jackson Apartment development on the south side of 23rd and Jackson to Seattle-based real estate development firm Timberlane Partners.
Vulcan continues to hold the shopping center on the north side of the intersection home to the soon to be shuttered Walgreens and a mix of businesses including an AutoZone. The shopping center has another empty spot in the former 23rd and Jackson Starbucks where a confluence of Seattle City Hall, Vulcan, and the goodwill of creating “a vibrant core for Black businesses” in the Central District fell apart last year as hopes of Black Coffee Northwest opening on the corner were scuttled.
Meanwhile, big chain pharmacy closures have continued to poke holes in the retail fabric around Seattle’s neighborhoods. 2023 ended with a flurry of closures on Capitol Hill including the Rite Aid at Broadway and E Olive Way now possibly being lined up to become a McDonald’s.
The Walgreens chain was taken over by private equity last year in a $10 billion deal by Sycamore Partners. The company has said it is anticipating hundreds of layoffs this year but is not planning to close as many stores as once feared. The big pharmacy chains have suffered from rising costs, increased competition from companies like Amazon, and debt from settlements in massive federal and state opioid lawsuits.
Walgreens, for now, is continuing to operate the Broadway and 15th Ave E Capitol Hill stores. Walgreens also operates a Community Pharmacy on 11th Ave.
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