After being closed nearly three months for renovation, the Safeway supermarket at West 18th Avenue and Oak Street in Eugene reopened Sept. 18, but the addition of a pharmacy to the new store is causing tension between two longtime neighbors.
Since 1957, Safeway and Hirons Drug have stood side by side on this block facing West 18th Avenue, and the two stores have never been in direct competition for customers — until now.
“We’re disappointed that they’ve chosen to compete with us in pharmacy,” manager Steve Hirons said. “It feels like we’re David, and they’re Goliath.”
Prescriptions account for nearly two-thirds of Hirons’ business, he said.
Safeway spokeswoman Bridget Flanagan said that the decision to add a pharmacy to the new location was in response to customer demand.
“Our goal is to make sure the shopping experience is the same from location to location,” she said. “There wasn’t a day that went by when the manager (at the Oak Street location) wasn’t asked why there wasn’t a pharmacy.”
Of the eight Safeway stores in the Eugene-Springfield area, Oak Street was the only location without a pharmacy.
Hirons said that he understood the rationale for the decision, and he said it is in the best interest of both businesses to generate as much traffic on the block as possible.
“We don’t want to be enemies with them,” he said. “We want them to succeed in the food
department.”
Hirons said that a small, family owned business has an advantage in that it can provide better, more personal service, and that the store will continue to rely on earning customer loyalty to stay competitive.
“We know our customers by name,” he said.
The conversion of the old grocery store into a modern, 24-hour supermarket would presumably be good news for this central Eugene neighborhood. The new store has a full-service bakery, florist and deli, and some unusual features such as a Starbucks coffee stand and a sushi bar. And, according to a press release, the expanded store is expected to generate 50 new jobs.
— Ken Paulman for the Emerald