MILWAUKEE — The Walgreens near Timmerman Airport is the latest store to close its doors permanently.
The company has confirmed that the store located at 5201 N. 91st St. will close due to its multiyear cost-cutting program.
Community members said the closures are detrimental to those who need prescriptions, healthcare services, and essential items.
“It’s a good Walgreens," said Raivonta Jones-Morris. "They come to this Walgreens. This the community Walgreens, so yeah.”
The recent trend of closures is being seen nationwide. In October, Walgreens announced it would close over 1,200 stores nationwide by 2027 and 500 by the end of 2025.
Another location at Martin Luther King Drive and Hadley St. will be closing its doors permanently on December 5.
"I didn't know it was closing, it's a shock to me," said Lorna Robinson who frequents that location.
Watch: Neighbors frustrated by Walgreens closures
The shock is now an inconvenience for Robinson.
She began using the Walgreens on MLK and Hadley after the one on Teutonia and Capitol just closed.
"Now I'm going to have to google up and see what's the next one I can go to," said Robinson. "This one right here is the only one I know as of right now."
"Like, why are y'all closing down every Walgreens that people really do need in their neighborhood? We need this. We need this."
A sign on the door says prescriptions at this pharmacy will move to the next closest store which is nearly a mile and a half away.
That's a six-minute drive and an even longer walk for people who do not have access to a car.
That is something Walgreens patron, Rosemary Baldwin, says will be a major issue for the disabled community in that area.
"It's going to affect a lot of them," Robinson said. "That lady was on a walker and she was trying to figure out where she was gonna go for her medication."
According to the latest census data, 15% of residents in that zip code are disabled.
Baldwin already moved her prescriptions over to a new location.
"Eight and a half pills a day I take- so it's important, very important for me."
People like Keshone Elam agrees, and said it gets harder and harder every time a store leaves his community. Right now, people are being encouraged to transfer prescriptions to other pharmacies or nearby locations.
“It’s going to affect a lot of people because it was convenient for a lot of people who stayed around here to be able to go to this Walgreens if they needed anything," said Keshon Elam, resident. "It’d kind of be a quick way for them to get what they needed.”
An inconvenience, Jones-Morris said is undeniable.
Watch: Community members disappointed by another Walgreens closure.
"All of our neighborhood stores are closing down," said Jones-Morris. "And like the one on Fond du Lac. I did security at the one on Fond du Lac and they closed down. It’s like, it's rough out here. So we got to try and make our community better.”
Alderman Lamont Westmoreland said he is working toward that goal. He said he is looking into ways to offer other pharmacy options to District 5 residents.
It's a much-needed resource since Elam and Jones-Morris said their neighbors have no other choice but to go further to find what they need.
“Now it’s going to be a little bit of a hassle because they might have to go all the way over on the other side of town and things like that to get the things that they may need," said Elam.
"Pick n Save on 76th, Walmart in Brown Deer, or different stores that they can go to," said Morris-Jones.
We're told all current Walgreens prescription records can be pulled up at any location. The pharmacy at 5201 N. 91st St will close on December 3rd at 3:00 p.m.
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