Walgreens has ended an experiment in Northwest Houston by closing its location at 12620 Farm to Market 1960 Rd W, Houston, TX 77065. The store opened about two years ago, replacing a full-sized location across the street. The prototype store was the first of its kind in Houston, and the location was downsized to everything but the bare essentials. It was mainly a pharmacy, but it did carry a small assortment of snacks, medical supplies, and household goods. While it was the first location in Houston, it was far from the first small format store, a concept that Walgreens has continued to develop. The small format Walgreens took up about a quarter of a former Eckerds. CVS maintains a similarly downsized store just a few blocks away.
I don’t know why they closed down the original Walgreens that was cater-corner from this location. It always seemed busy. I thought it may have been due to the never-ending construction at that intersection affecting their business, but then they opened this smaller Walgreens store shortly after.
Man, that brings back old memories. That Eckerd opened for like 2-3 months before all Eckerds shut down. They did not convert it to a CVS because there was another CVS like a mile down the road at the intersection of 1960 and Fallbrook (the same one you mentioned that downsized). That old Eckerd building sat vacant for like 10-15 years or so except on weekends when it operated like a makeshift flea market.