Roxbury drug store cited for rodents, filth

ROXBURY, Mass. — It is a drug store chain that formerly advertised itself as situated ‘At the Corner of Happy and Healthy.’

But the Walgreens Pharmacy located at the corner of Washington and Vernon Streets appears to have earned a new tag line — and it’s nothing to advertise.

“It’s very dirty in there,” said customer Leslie Lipscomb. “The store is disgusting.”

“The mice? You might as well call them rats, because they’re that big,” said Marla Wright, who has essentially stopped shopping at the store. “When I did go in there with my granddaughter to use the bathroom, it was cockroaches. And we don’t do cockroaches.”

While city health inspectors did not mention cockroaches in a recent report on the Walgreens, mice droppings were noted — along with dirty refrigeration units and floors. They also noted inadequate trash cans and loose garbage around the property, which is located at 2275 Washington Street..

The city learned of the dirty conditions at the store from social media — and sent several inspectors out because the pharmacy had failed four other inspections in the last year. Walgreens can be inspected by city health officials because it sells food to the public, primarily in the form of groceries.

In a statement, Walgreens spokesperson Scott Goldberg confirmed the store failed a mid-February inspection, Goldberg adding that “We are diligently working to resolve the concerns identified during that inspection. Our store remains open and our customers’ and patients’ safety remains our utmost priority.”

Goldberg tells Boston 25 News that all Walgreens stores have regular cleaning protocols. But it appears that two other Boston stores in the chain don’t have those protocols in place. Tuesday, Inspectional Services found violations similar to the Roxbury store at Walgreens properties on Morton Street and Warren Street.

In a statement, the City’s Assistant Commissioner for Constituent Services said “The type and number of code infractions inspectors found at all three Walgreens locations is very disappointing.” Jessica Collins continued, saying ,”All businesses, especially large chain stores, need to know that code compliance is not optional.”

The city has ordered a Walgreens District Manager to appear at an administrative hearing later this week.

Some former customers tell Boston 25 News they no longer shop at the Walgreens in Roxbury because of filth.

Jaharrie Wright said she’s seen rodents in the store. “I stopped shopping there because it’s disgusting,” she said.

“At night, it’s worse because of the trash there,” said her mother, Marla. “They’re all in it. Between the cockroaches and the rats, they’re never gonna leave.”

But customer Rafael Lopez said the store feels clean to him.

“It looked nice inside and they have good, polite people working there, too,” he said.

Aside from issues of cleanliness, some complain the store seems to never have what shoppers need.

“Soap, toilet paper, the basics... anything,” said Lipscomb. “The shelves are empty.”

“I never noticed messy in there,” said customer Phil Gibson. “But I have noticed that there’s a lot of things that are not there that you would think should be there. I never really do no big shopping in there because they ain’t got no big shopping in there.”

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