Osco Drug to close Gage Blvd. store

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jun 14, 2002 by Linda Laird Capital-Journal

By Linda Laird

The Capital-Journal

The owner of the Osco Drug, 1401 S.W. Gage Blvd., announced Thursday the store would close, leaving one store in Topeka.

The store, owned by Albertsons Inc., will close as part of a restructuring announced by the grocery and retail company more than a year ago. The closing date wasn't available Thursday.

Karen Ramos, spokeswoman for Osco Drug in the regional office at Franklin Park, Ill., said Thursday the store's 35 employees will be transferred to open positions at the other Topeka store or to other stores in the region. The nearest store outside of Topeka, she said, is two hours away.

"We will offer positions to any of our employees willing to be relocated," Ramos said.

The pharmacists, she said, will be placed within the Osco system.

The closing date of the store will be known when inventory schedules can be worked out, she said.

"The store will remain open until the inventory is complete," Ramos said.

Pharmacy customers may refill prescriptions at Osco Drug, 2835 S.W. Wanamaker Road, where pharmacy files from the Gage store will be moved.

The freestanding Osco Drug building has about 15,000 square feet of space. It has a drive-through pharmacy and grocery cases. The original project cost $1.1 million, according to the building application.

The store opened in 1997 at about the same time Albertsons came to Topeka with a supermarket at S.W. 29th and Fairlawn. That store closed April 28.

Ramos said Albertsons Inc., based out of Boise, Idaho, announced a restructuring of the company last July. Ramos said a review of the market was made at the time of the Albertsons closing in April.

"We are sorry to have to leave that store," she said. "We don't like to have to make these kinds of announcements."

The building is owned by Albertsons. Once the store is closed, it will be marketed to another user for sale or lease.

Osco has about 600 stores nationwide and 25 in Kansas.