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‘Pharmacy deserts’ created as Walgreens closes locations in Roxbury, Hyde Park, Mattapan
The three pharmacies will close one after another in three days, creating inconveniences for the communities they served.
Walgreens locations in three Boston neighborhoods will close this week.
The three pharmacies will close one after another in three days: Roxbury’s 2275 Washington St. location will close Tuesday, Hyde Park’s 1329 Hyde Park Ave. on Wednesday, and Mattapan’s 90 River St. on Thursday.
Walgreens spokesperson Kris Lathan addressed the closures in a statement to The Boston Globe, but did not give particular reasons for the shuttering of the three stores.
“When faced with the difficult task of closing a particular location, several factors are taken into account, including things like the dynamics of the local market and changes in the buying habits of our patients and customers, for example,” Lathan wrote.
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The Roxbury and Mattapan pharmacies, which are located in primarily Black and brown communities, are transferring patient information to other locations, but each is at least a mile away.
But this creates a problem for residents: 44% of Roxbury residents don’t have access to a vehicle. In Mattapan and Hyde Park, the percentage is slightly lower — 27.1% and 16.2%, respectively.
In Hyde Park, there is a grocery store with a pharmacy inside across from the soon-to-be-closed Walgreens, NBC Boston reported.
Both Roxbury and Mattapan are low-income communities compared to Boston as a whole, making the closures even more worrying for both residents and local leaders.
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“It will make it harder for our elders, those without cars, and those with mobility issues to access their medicines and other household goods that Walgreens sells,” city councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson said in an email to the Globe. “This represents a real blow to three predominantly working class communities in our city.”
Julia Mejia, an at-large Boston City Councilor, told WBZ that the closures will create “pharmacy deserts” for underserved communities.
“We already have a hard enough time getting the medical prescriptions that we need,” Mejia said. “Now we’re going to have to find other spaces and places to be able to have access to life-saving medication.”
Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell, whose district includes Mattapan, told the Globe that he is working with other constituents to delay the closures by 30 days. “I have all the faith that Walgreens will do the right thing to make sure that we are effectively communicating to our constituents who have helped them in their business for so long,” he said.
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