By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus
Commonwealth Journal
Somerset —
Footing is being poured for a new CVS/pharmacy on a four-acre site at the northeastern corner of U.S. 27 and Ky. 80 bypass. Mike DeAngelis, spokes-person for CVS/pharmacy, said the new, much-larger drugs-tore will open about March 2011. He described it as a free-standing store, meaning it will be the only store at that location. Somerset’s current CVS/pharmacy in Cumberland Square shopping center will close when the new drugstore opens. “It will be a seamless transfer,” DeAngelis promised. “Employees, prescription rec-ords, merchandise ... all will move. Somerset CVS/pharmacy currently has about 20 employees. DeAngelis said additional employees will be added as needed at the new store. However, “ ... it’s all about convenience ... more parking, larger selection of merchandise ... better service for our customers,” he emphasized. Jerry Ikerd, owner of Ikerd Management, said the building for the 13,225-square-foot drugstore should be completed in six months. Ikerd’s company is developing the building site and CVS/pharmacy has its own developer to erect the building, according to DeAngelis. Signs announcing the new drugstore should go up at the site within the next few days, Ikerd said. “It will have entrances off U.S. 27 and Ky. 80, enhanced by a right-turn lane off Ky. 80, he noted. Somerset’s CVS/pharmacy, formerly Super X and then Revco, has been located in Cumberland Square shopping center off Ky. 80 bypass since August 1979. CVS/pharmacy bought Revco in 1997 and the local drugstore took the CVS name. CVS/pharmacy, founded in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1963, is headquartered in Woonsocket, R.I. It is the second largest pharmacy chain in the United States with 7,027 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico. The chain sells prescription drugs and a wide assortment of general merchandise including over-the-counter drugs and cosmetics.