Say Good-Bye to North Oakland CVS Garden Center

The former-Super-Longs-turned-CVS-with-the-really-good-garden-center will be closing by the end of June and I'm bummed. This was actually that rare occurrence of a well-maintained garden center in a chain store, a phenomenon you see come along with the frequency of Haley's comet. I've gotten great plants there and when they were taken over by CVS it was doubly gratifying to be able to use CVS Extra Bucks to score bigger savings on them. Not to mention that this was the kind of store where you could buy plants, hardware, fabric, milk, and fresh produce all in one stop--the closest thing I've ever seen to a general store in an urban setting. This store will be missed! I'd be ranting about the idiocy of chain store management, but it turns out this is not a CVS decision. The owner of the shopping center where the store is located wants to tear down and completely redevelop the center so the store's lease is not being renewed. Why can't shopping center owners ever leave well enough alone?

My one consolation is that there may be good going-out-of-business-sale bargains to be had on plants and other garden needs. Cold comfort, frankly, but I'll take what I can get.

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