Longmont soon to lose its only 24-hour pharmacy as Walgreens cuts hours

LONGMONT -- In just a few days, Longmont and Boulder County will be losing the only 24-hour pharmacy in this area. Starting Wednesday, the Walgreens at 11th Avenue and Main Street will cut its pharmacy hours back to match the other four Walgreens in the city. The closest Walgreens that will offer a 24-hour pharmacy are in Thornton, at 4001 E. 120th Ave., and in Fort Collins, at 2190 W. Drake Road. The Walgreens in Loveland at 205 E. Eisenhower Blvd. also is ending its 24-hour pharmacy operations next week.

"(The decision) was based on seasonal business changes, implementation of a new staffing model and also (Walgreens) no longer being part of the Express Scripts pharmacy network," spokeswoman Vivika Panagiotakakos said by phone this week from Walgreens' corporate headquarters in Deerfield, Ill., just outside Chicago.

She said discussions of limiting pharmacy hours at certain stores began months ago, but the company had taken steps in the interim to reduce expenses without cutting pharmacy hours. Those steps included implementing a hiring freeze at the company's headquarters, instituting new hiring guidelines for its stores nationwide and finding other ways to cut costs.

"We tried to take these proactive measures first to help avoid reductions," Panagiotakakos said. "This is very store-specific and market-specific, so it's not something that's happening across the board."

She said that no pharmacists were losing their jobs, and none were having hours cut unless they requested it.

Several readers responded with dismay to a Times-Call Facebook posting about the imminent closing.

"Who wants to be ill and have to drive to a nearby town for meds or leave your loved one at home while you go out of town for their meds? Inconvenient!" wrote one.

"Where are you supposed to go in the middle of the night with a sick child?" wrote another. "Geez, even way back in the '70s in my small town where I grew up there was a 24-hour pharmacy."

Wrote a third: "You never know what emergency will arise, especially with children. This Walgreens has been a life-saver so many times to us and others we know. ... Bad choice is all I can say."

Starting Wednesday, all five Walgreens in Longmont will have the same pharmacy hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

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Longmont soon to lose its only 24-hour pharmacy as Walgreens cuts hours