<p>Am I the only one with forebodings since reading that Longs’ has been sold to CVS? I somehow don’t trust CVS to maintain the level of our stores…</p>
<p>Oh dear, that’s unfortunate. I despise CVS, and love our local Longs. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how/if they change things…</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of Longs, what are they?</p>
<p>Drug stores.</p>
<p>I hate CVS. We used to have a great little Savon down the street, and now it’s a CVS and the quality has REALLY gone downhill. They took out all the registers and left 3, so if there are more than 5 or so people there it takes FOREVER. The store also seems dirtier every time I go in there. Ugh.</p>
<p>The Savon near my Dad’s house in Long Beach was wonderful, but now it’s a CVS and something just isn’t right.</p>
<p>Kathyc-I think we’re talking about the same Savon! :)</p>
<p>I’m on the east coast. Was it a west coast chain?</p>
<p>Probably not, since I went to Poly, so I assumed you’re talking about Los Altos Center. The point is very well taken!</p>
<p>XD fair point. I was talking about the one in Lakewood.</p>
<p>milkandsugar…I’m not sure. They’re not huge in SoCal either, but I’ve seen a few. Relatively smaller chain, I think.</p>
<p>Milkandsugar, this morning’s paper called Longs’ the last regional drugstore chain. I guess since it’s concentrated in Northern California and Hawaii, where CVS has no presence, this merger allows CVS to get into those markets quickly. Unfortunately for us, since Longs’ is homegrown, it caters to our likes and dislikes. There are also some concerns about whether or not CVS will continue to support Longs’ community contributions to the same extent.</p>
<p>^We loved Savon for the same reason…everyone was so nice and it really seemed unique. Now the help is unhelpful (haha) unless you talk to one of them who used to work at Savon, and there aren’t many left. Disappointing, really.</p>
<p>We had CVS when I was a kid and I’ve always liked their stores and the pharmacy in particular. I think that they started in the Boston area, or maybe elsewhere in New England. They built a new store in our town recently that’s a lot bigger and nicer than the previous one.</p>
<p>Of course the CVS that I’m used to may provide less service than what you’re used to.</p>
<p>Let’s hope we have good experiences here, BC.</p>
<p>I have no special thoughts about Long’s, but I grew up as a Sav-On kid. Remember triple cones for 15 cents? When the chain sold out to Osco it sent a chill down my spine, but it sounds like Osco must have sold it to CVS. It’s all signs of the end of western civilization.</p>
<p>Osco was actually okay in the mid-80’s when I lived in Chicago. And in Long Beach, the real deal ice cream cones were at Thrifty, not Sav-on (5 cents for a scoop!) But Thrifty sold out to Rite-Aid and those stores are awful now!</p>
<p>Rite-Aid’s stock plunged a few years ago and hasn’t recovered so their financial problems probably have something to do with how the stores are run today.</p>
<p>I worked at a company for about 8 years when I was younger and our division was bought out by one of our competitors. Of course everyone was nervous and out looking for jobs. But the buyout went through and the employees and customers were well card for. They buyout was 14 years ago so I’ve essentially been with the same group of people for about 20 years.</p>
<p>Thank you for the encouraging words, BC–maybe we’ll be okay.</p>
<p>We have a Longs and a Rite Aid. Rite Aid is horrible. Dirty, long lines, etc. I drive out of my way to go to Longs. Seems to me the difference is the individual store manager. There are good ones and bad ones. It will be interesting to see if CVS keeps the Longs personnel. In areas like CA where CVS doesn’t have a big presence yet you would think they will have to. I hope so.</p>
<p>I’m glad we have Bartells. I despise Rite Aid, too. Filthy and disorganized! The phamacist at the one next to our old house was insane. I’m not kidding! He was mumbling starnge things, screaming at customers, and his technicians were double and triple-checking everything he did. Yikes.
I just go to Costco to get my prescriptions. Bartells is for everything else.</p>
<p>^HECKYES.</p>
<p>I remember my grandpa taking me to Thrifty for ice cream.</p>
<p>And my brother used to work at Luckys (which I believe is now an Albertsons).</p>