Welcoming Walgreens

On September 27 of this year the Planning Commission approved plans for a Walgreens to be built within the Sonoma Gateway Center at the corner of Commerce Boulevard and Rohnert Park Expressway.

Locals are forgiven if they aren't familiar with the name of the center, it is more commonly known as 'that area behind the Black Bear Diner next to Motel 6'. The Walgreens store will provide a much needed boost for this shopping center.

Slowly but surely the Sonoma Gateway is working on a facelift starting with the Starbucks that is almost finished located right between Jack-in-the-Box and the Black Bear. Prior to that, the rear portion of the center had been redeveloped in prior years with two new buildings added.

When it was developed, numerous new stores flocked in to the two buildings located behind Jack-in-the-Box such as Del Secco's Gelato N' Sweets, Bear Buddies & Toys, and a Mexican grill among others.

But the economic downturn hit all of the tenants hard. Now all that is left is a Metro PCS store and Sushiko, a little known yet very tasty sushi restaurant. On Yelp, Sushiko carries a robust four-star rating. But there is hope that placing a larger tenant in will create a nice boost in customers.

How exactly is Walgreens going to fit into the existing layout? The plan is to demolish the building that runs parallel to Rohnert Park Expressway and build a 13,650 foot Walgreens complete with drive-thru window for the pharmacy. The other building that runs parallel to the freeway will remain. In fact, Sushiko has already posted a request to transfer their liquor sales permit on the other building in preparation of a move.

The Sonoma Gateway Center has never had an anchor store and it is hoped that the addition of Walgreens will provide much needed stability to this shopping area and revise interest from potential tenants to fill remaining empty stores in the center.

While the store seems like a good fit for that particular area, there are concerns about the necessity of the business. CVS is just down the street, Safeway and Raley's both have pharmacy options, and Target is relatively close by. CVS declined to comment on the possibility of adding such a close competitor down the street. Of course, a little competition never hurt anyone.

So what do you think Rohnert Park, is this a good addition to that area?

Design courtesy of Johnson Lyman Architects

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