Comments on: Ferguson’s David & Goliath Moment

By: Thom

Thom — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:08:17 +0000

No! I hold the old Sinclair gas stations near and dear to my heart. My parents loved them because they were the only remaining full-service gas stations around. I loved them because of the green brontosaurus. I think others loved the dinosaur as well because they would sell them in a stuffed or inflatable form. I grew up in Ferguson from birth to the age of 18 and the 3 Sinclair stations that we would use were this one, Bermuda Rd @ Hwy 70, and Washington @ Hwy 270 (in Florissant). I was saddened by the severe decline of my old neighborhood in the 90′s, but it is inspiring now to see the city fight to get back where it was – one of the nicest suburban towns in N. St. Louis County.
The CVS strategy must be working, as ridiculous as it may seem. Even in my current small-town residence (Highland, IL), CVS and Walgreens are directly across the street from each other in the heart of the city. It is unfortunate that they tried to sneak this under the noses of the Ferguson residents they want to serve and I hope the local government officials involved will be held accountable for their lack of openness and transparency.
(P.S. Faraci’s pizza on S. Florissant Rd. just south of Paul St. in downtown Ferguson is still the best pizza in the world. I still make the hour-long drive from Highland occasionally just to remember what real pizza is supposed to taste like.)

By: samizdat

samizdat — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:12:41 +0000

Walgreens and CVS are just two of the most visible instances of marketing/branding run amok…and how the field of marketing (or, in Edouard Bernays own words, “propaganda”) has poisoned our society.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:37:02 +0000

And from the other side of this. CVS was here in LA first (or rather, they bought the biggest LA drugstore chain, Savon Drugs around the same time Walgreens started to show up here)before Walgreens. Now they are building a Walgreens pretty much dead center between the two CVS’s in this area (the LaCrescenta/LaCanada area where we are waiting for more mud to come down the street tomorrow). So out here it seems Walgreens is trying to edge out CVS.

By: Kyle Muldrow

Kyle Muldrow — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:24:30 +0000

Hey, that’s not far from First Baptist Church of Ferguson…where I used to go the church in the 80s and early 90s…

By: Blue Tapp

Blue Tapp — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:16:14 +0000

Wow EXCELLENT article. Thank you for posting this. I maintain the No2Rezoning.com website and I will link to this article as soon as I get back in town. Yes we ARE fighting this but we need all the help we can get. Please check out the how you can help page on No2Rezoning.com. We need voices. Thanks!

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:45:04 +0000

Nice how CVS chooses to serve the community by locating itself as close as possible to a nearly identical EXISTING drugstore, rather than moving into an underserved neighborhood.

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:14:35 +0000

Is there a neighborhood organization fighting this? If not, who is taking the lead opposition?

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:11:03 +0000

Great post, Toby! I don’t think city hall was trying to pull a fast one on this development. It was more a case of the developer trying to keep things hush-hush and the council basically enabling that by playing a passive role.

What’s silly about the whole thing is that NOBODY would have complained had CVS simply picked the opposite corner.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:07:21 +0000

No no no no no! Do I need to come out there and lie down in front of a bulldozer?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:48:26 +0000

I need a cigarette after reading this post. You hit on so many great points, Toby. Our older inner-ring suburbs are most vulnerable today. CVS – Creating Vile Sterility.