Walgreens Sells New Bellingham Locale

BELLINGHAM, WA-Walgreens, the nation’s largest drug chain, has sold a new location near the popular Bellis Fair Regional Mall in this college town 90 miles north of Seattle. The 15,120-sf facility was completed last fall and opened for business in December. The sale, part of a 1031 tax deferred exchange by an out-of-state investor, was for $5.4 million.

Walgreens may seek another Bellingham location and is definitely in an expansion mode. Walgreens is seeking to serve an aging population, which is driving demand for the combination of healthcare and convenient shopping. “Walgreens opened 238 new stores in the first half of the year with a net gain of 178 locations,” said CEO L. Daniel Jorndt. “We’ll open approximately 500 new stores this fiscal year and are on target to operate a total of 6,000 stores by 2010.”