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Walgreens on the West Loop

November 29th, 2009

I’ve written on the positive effects that expanding business and entrepreneurism can have on a community. On such example is that of the new Walgreens on the west loop. For years and years the lot on the corner of sixty four and the loop had been wasted on the disreputable “Rose City Motel.” This had been a source of embarrassment for many Tyler residents, (myself included), who found it necessary to pass the establishment on the way to the airport to pick up out of town guests. Well at long last the shame has left, the motel has been bulldozed, and the valuable real estate reoccupied by more legitimate businesses, one of which is Walgreens Pharmacy.

Of all the new businesses on the west loop in Tyler, Walgreens is one of the most welcome and maybe the most helpful as well. The staff is there to offer whatever advice and help that they can when it comes to normal everyday ailments. They offer a full range of over the counter products for those like me, who prefer treating their own symptoms rather than constantly shelling out for a doctor’s prescription. For those situations when the doc’s help is absolutely necessary however, the store offers both walk in or drive through pick up.

But the store is much more than just a pharmacy. They offer a wide variety of health and beauty products as well as groceries and other odds and ends. While Walgreens is a pharmacy first and foremost, it is also a sort of mini department store. Personally, I stop off frequently for items like milk, which runs just under two dollars a gallon. I won’t say that their entire inventory is as inexpensive, some things seem kind of high to me, the diapers and related products for example. It’s best to know what you usually pay for those items, or do a little comparison shopping. By the way, the store is going to be offering Christmas pictures on December fifth, from eleven in the morning until three in the afternoon. They assure me that the prices will quite cheap.

Hopefully, Walgreens will not be the only new business in west Tyler. The more run down motels and third rate tattoo supply shops we can drive out and replace with real reputable businesses and jobs, the better. As someone who lives in west Tyler, I’m glad to support stores like Walgreens. Come to think of it I’m out of milk, guess I should swing by the pharmacy.

West Loop Development in Tyler

November 24th, 2009

Da Hippie
Update: The shopping complex in Tyler TX that houses such places as Da Hippie and DragonBytes has gone through a massive renovation since this article. Bravo! (said in a snobby accent) The new commercial facility renovation looks great!

Over the past few years, I have been excited to watch the economic growth and expansion occurring in West Tyler. The west loop has seen numerous decayed and crime ridden businesses closed and the real estate sold to make room for legitimate, contributing entrepreneurs. We’ve seen the likes of Wingstop, Subway, Walgreens, Starbucks, Papa Murphy’s, and numerous others, set up shop along the west loop and sixty four. Even the west loop Wal-Mart, as messy and sometimes run-down as it is, has brought with it quite a bit of development since its arrival around five years ago. It all goes to validate the maxim that a rising tide lifts all boats, something most of our current political leaders have either forgotten, or chosen to ignore. The expansion also proves that a great way to foster healthy communities is to allow healthy individuals and businesses to succeed. Give people the opportunity to buy up infected areas and they will purge the corrupted property and bring in new dollars.

With this principle in mind, I must express a certain amount of disappointment that up until this point, the West Loop and thirty one has been largely left out of the recent renaissance. I’ve long been embarrassed by the look and content of thirty one west. It has been Tyler’s ugly back door for quite sometime. It has been, and remains my hope that the development of the Cascades and the new Airport will help buoy property values and bring improvements to this ugly highway.

When the developers do decide to take the plunge and move towards Chandler, I would like to suggest a few eyesores I eagerly await seeing bulldozed completely. I do not even care whether or not they are replaced with more reputable establishments… Well that’s not true, I do hope for improvements. However a pile of rubble is preferable to these businesses (and I use the term loosely). The originally named “Sports Club,”(once named the Unicorn Club), as well as close neighbors “Da Hippy” (I can barely contain my contempt as I type this), the “Dragon’s Byte,” (their spelling not mine) and the nondescript corner gas station, have long been a breeding ground for drug use, crime, third rate tattoo artists, and general filth. The real estate is located at the corner of thirty one and Greenbriar, where a healthier more upstanding business could potentially make a successful go of it. As developments like the Cascades expand toward highway thirty one, properties like the ones I mentioned could be a source of prosperity for some entrepreneurial risk taker. The day “Da Hippy” is bulldozed I’ll be there with popcorn to watch.