The [Henderson] Daily Dispatch
OXFORD -- The owner of Jones Discount Drug Store in Oxford's city center is declining to say what the future of his business will be with a Walgreens taking shape nearby, even as the business's manager's wife said the longtime establishment will shut the doors by late next month.
"I can't give you any information on that at this time," Charlie Jones said Wednesday. Jones, when asked why he could not provide details, replied, "Because it has not been finalized."
And Jones, when asked when he would be able to give any specifics, replied, "It'll probably be next month, sometime. I can't tell you anything right now. I haven't made a public announcement or made anything like that."
Betty Finch, whose husband, William, manages Jones Discount Drug Store, said Tuesday that the business would close Sept. 25. Betty Finch added that her husband would be moving to Walgreens.
Jones Discount Drug Store, 116 Hillsboro St., has been one of the mainstays in the picturesque heart of Granville County. There is even a more than four-and-a-half minute video on the Internet site youtube.com showing the atmosphere of the place, particularly at noontime at the lunch counter.
Betty Finch said that there were people who expressed interest in keeping the soda fountain open, but that, "they wouldn't be able to. It costs too much money. They wouldn't get much business."
The future Walgreens is at the southwest corner of Hillsboro and Linden Avenue.
Although the sign promoting the future Walgreens reads "Opening soon," Robert Elfinger, a spokesman for the Chicago-based drugstore chain, said there is no set opening date, other than to emphasize that the hope is October.
News in June 2008 of Walgreens intending to locate in Oxford concerned Jones.
"We hate to see another chain come in because it definitely, definitely will hurt the independent stores," said Jones, who since 1955 has had a drug store along Hillsboro Street. "And I think it will actually damage downtown."
"Most of the time, your chains do not bank locally. They do not contribute to the local situation," Jones said, adding that he believes the chains do not provide the same "personal service" as a longtime local pharmacist.
"But, it's kind of inevitable," Jones said of mass retailers increasingly dominating trade in America's cities and towns.
Jones recalled Oxford's city center being home to at least four drug stores after World War II.
Retail traffic patterns increasingly changed after Wal-Mart in 1991 opened at the Granville Corners shopping center near the Interstate 85/N.C. 96 interchange.
And in 1995, the Revco chain -- which had a store along Williamsboro Street and a store at the once-thriving Oak Plaza shopping center on the southwest side of Oxford -- closed those two locations and moved into what today is the CVS at the corner of Williamsboro and Lanier streets.
Wal-Mart is bidding farewell to the Granville Corners location, with a Sept. 16 opening set for the Wal-Mart Supercenter that is taking shape off U.S. 15 near I-85.
And Lowes Foods has announced intentions to close its 111 E. McClanahan St. store.
A spokeswoman for the Winston-Salem grocery chain did not respond to a request for comment, but was quoted in the July 27 Oxford Public Ledger newspaper as saying the reasons for the closure are declining volume, an expiring lease that will not be renewed at the end of the year and the future Wal-Mart Supercenter.
The City Commission on Aug. 11 went on record asking Lowes Foods to keep the 111 E. McClanahan location open.
