Gallup Walgreens store moves into new, larger location

Contractors continue construction on the new Walgreens store Thursday afternoon at the corner of Mollicca and Historic Rt. 66 in Gallup. The new Walgreens, a few hundred yards away from the store's present location, is scheduled to open in the early part of May. (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — A new and improved Walgreens drug store is set to open on the northeast corner of Zecca Plaza in early May, just steps from the Walgreens that's filled out the western end of the plaza since 1992.

The company is trying to bring its Gallup location in line with its evolving business plan, according to Walgreens spokeswoman Tiffany Bruce, which calls for free-standing stores, as the new site will be. At 14,820 square feet, the new store will also be nearly 2,700 square feet larger than the current store, making room for more merchandise and additional services, including a beauty advisor and frozen food section.

Relocating to a stand-alone store will also give them room for a drive-through window, she added.

Despite the extra room and services, Bruce said the store won't be going 24-7, which means it probably won't be adding to the 30 employees it has now.

The store will be going up on the site of a now-demolished building that used to house the Golden Dragon restaurant and a Veterans Affairs office, which vacated the site a year or so ago.

But it was the vacation of the old TG&Y store on the east end of the main building that opened the door to the rest of the changes afoot at the plaza, said Cyrus Etemad, whose family bought the property in 1984.

That door began to open when the retailer fell on some hard times.

"The company was bought out, basically by a junk bond operation, that sold off the stores, and the quality kind of declined over the years," said Etemad.

Although its Gallup store was one of the last to hold out, he said, it too closed down once the company went bankrupt.

Once TG&Y was out, he said, "that became an opportunity to revitalize the whole shopping center."

So far, Etemad has leased portions of the 30,000-plus square-foot space to Goodwill Industries and the Quizno's restaurant chain and is negotiating with another company to fill the 16,000 square feet that are left.

Once that's done and Walgreens moves into its new home, Etemad said he'll focus on filling the current Walgreens space.

Convincing companies that Gallup's retail potential was much greater than the city's population might suggest, given that so many people from the surrounding rural areas make Gallup their primary shopping destination, was a "battle," Etemad admitted.

But when he compiled some data that placed Gallup fifth in overall retail sales in the state, and first in per capita sales, despite being 11th by population, things went a little easier.

"That definitely got a few more people to the table that otherwise wouldn't be there," Etemad said.

Because negotiations are ongoing, however, he won't discuss exactly what other stores might be coming.

Considering what he believes the area might need, however, he did say that apparel, sporting goods and a few more food vendors are strong possibilities.