WASHINGTON — CVS has announced it will close its Columbia Heights location by the end of February. This comes after the store went viral last year for rows and rows of empty shelves allegedly due to shoplifters.
Officials with the company say all prescriptions will be transferred to the CVS pharmacy at 1755 Columbia Road, NW, and all employees at the location will be offered comparable roles within the company.
In Oct. of 2023, WUSA9's Leslie Moreno reported that customers visiting the pharmacy were shocked to find the store nearly empty. Employees told us then that the store is consistently ransacked, even going so far to say that thieves target the store on new shipment days and steal merchandise before it even makes it onto the store shelves.
“Older guys, young, any age, come in, they get trash bags full," a CVS employee who wanted to remain anonymous told WUSA9. "They take anything, everything!”
Staff said the thieves almost always purposely leave a mess behind. Many times, customers are in the store as it's happening.
Although CVS has a zero-tolerance policy for shoplifting, employees are not allowed to chase, confront, or apprehend you if caught shoplifting. Employees are instead instructed to inform their manager, who will have a final say on dealing with the issue.
On Tuesday, CVS announced it had made the difficult decision to close the store at 3031 14th Street, NW.
"We will have more than 50 CVS locations remaining in Washington, D.C. and will continue to provide the community with outstanding service at these locations. We also offer prescription home delivery service to eligible patients through CVS.com and the CVS Pharmacy app to provide additional convenient access to medications."
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