One of the largest impediments to efficient manufactured spend in the Pacific Northwest is the absence of CVS. We have few or no places to buy Vanilla Reload cards here, which are the easiest way to reload (and later empty) a Bluebird card. But at CVS locations throughout much of the country there is actually a formal limit of $5,000 in Vanilla Reload purchases per day, and I’ve had few issues buying them with a credit card. The main problem is that I have to fly to another state to do it.
Here are the states with no current CVS Pharmacy locations:
- Alaska
- Colorado
- Idaho
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Washington
- Wyoming
So it was great news when I heard a couple months ago that CVS will be opening three (?) new stores in the Seattle area. I have had trouble pinning down the exact number, locations, or dates, but I have hopes at least one will be open in 2014 and that two of them will be within Seattle city limits.
Well, great for me (and most of you). But CVS has not been welcomed with open arms here. Most of the criticism has surrounded the store in the Wallingford neighborhood on NE 45th St. It was going to look like some generic strip mall drugstore, so the City Council actually passed an emergency measure that set a minimum density requirement. They tried to get CVS to build housing above, but they balked at that. CVS did go back to their architect to create three proposed redesigns that do a better job of incorporating the existing architecture and a mural.
I happen to think this is a good thing. Chase has recently purchased several old buildings in Seattle neighborhoods, nice brick buildings with elaborate cornices and other masonry, before replacing them with very plain boxes. Ugh. I kind of like that Columbia Tower, the second tallest building on the West Coast, carved out space for an historic hotel on the site that currently houses a McCormick & Shmick’s. But I digress…
The point is that CVS is coming. In Wallingford it will be at 2100 N 45th St. A second will be at the corner of 1st Ave S and SW 160th St in the suburb of Burien. (I heard someone say “West Seattle” at a recent meetup. I suspect this is what they meant.) And the third… I’m not really sure. But I think it will be right around the corner from my apartment! One of my search results pulled up a business listing from some service called Cortera and listed an address of 2013 4th Ave, just two blocks away and next to Dahlia Lounge for those familiar with the area.
