Crime-plagued CVS store in Northwest D.C. closing down next month

A CVS location in the District of Columbia that has received national attention for its issues with retail crime will close for good next month.

Spokeswoman Amy Thibault said in a statement that the store in the city’s Columbia Heights neighborhood will shut down on Feb. 29.

Pharmacy prescriptions will be transferred to a CVS on Columbia Road NW in Adams Morgan, she said, or customers can choose to have their prescriptions ordered to a  more convenient location.

All employees who worked at the store located at 3031 14th Street NW are being offered similar roles at other locations.

The Washington Times asked if retail crime played a part in the decision, but the company didn’t respond to that inquiry.

“Maintaining access to pharmacy services in the communities we serve is an important factor we consider when making store closure decisions,” Ms. Thibault said in the statement. “Other factors include local market dynamics, population shifts, a community’s store density and ensuring there are other geographic access points to meet the needs of the community.”

The Columbia Heights CVS is the poster child for D.C.’s struggles with retail theft.  

Photos on social media and nightly newscasts have shown the store’s aisles of barren shelves picked clean by thieves.

Brianne K. Nadeau, the Ward 1 Democrat who represents Columbia Heights, told local ABC affiliate WJLA-TV that crime wasn’t discussed as a factor in the store’s closure when her team spoke with CVS.

The councilmember said in a statement that the CVS location was “one of about 900 stores they are closing to reduce pharmacy density.”  

Last fall, a Forbes Advisor survey found that D.C. was the second hardest-hit area in the country by retail crime.

Local lawmakers look to tackle the issue in a bill making its way through the D.C. Council.

The bill would let retail theft ringleaders be sentenced to 15 years behind bars and lower the felony theft threshold from $1,000 to $500.