Residents in Whitestone, New York have become the second community in this state to begin an active boycott of a new. 18,000 s.f. CVS store. Residents say they want a grocery store instead, and hope to turn CVS away from their town.Protesters say the chain store has turned a deaf ear to neighbors’ demand that the store be downsized to make way for a grocery store instead. The desire for a grocery store is the same precipitating factor behind a CVS boycott now several months old in the town of Woodstock, New York. The CVS in Whitestone was picketed over the weekend by a group of 25 people — many of them elderly. “If we don’t shop here, we’ll send a message and eventually they’ll get it,” City Councilman Tony Avella told Newsday. Avella says all CVS had to do was give up 4,000 s.f. to make room for a grocery store. But the company wouldn’t hear of it. Last summer, Key Food closed and told the community it was renting to CVS. “CVS does not care about you,” Avella told the newspaper. “All they care about is the all-mighty
dollar.” Neighbors say there are already eight drug stores in the area, and CVS does not carry many food items, and is not a substitute for the Key Food store that closed.
Community members find themselves oversupplied with the convenience/drug stores, as local grocery stores go under — in part because of stores like Wal-Mart supercenters. Wal-Mart is now the largest grocer in America. For more on CVS boycotts, search this database by “CVS” and “Woodstock”.
