Is 45 minutes too long to wait in line at the pharmacy?
by JUNYAO YANG April 30, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)
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When Delaney White walked into the Walgreens at 23rd and Mission on Monday afternoon and saw only four people in line, she was happy. That was a surprisingly short line for the 5:30 p.m. rush hour, she said. Plus, two windows were open.
“It’s been bad for years,” White said of the wait time at the pharmacy located on the busy Mission Street corridor. Now it has gotten much worse, according to several customers and Walgreens employees.
Some blame long waits on the late February closure of the Walgreens on Potrero Avenue and 24th. Before it closed, the pharmacy directed its customers to the nearest branch at 2690 Mission St. at 23rd Street.
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That, and the closure of another Walgreens at Cesar Chavez and Mission in 2021, have left 2690 Mission St. the last Walgreens in the Mission. The next closest branch is on 30th and Mission streets.
As a result, Supervisor Jackie Fielder asked the city in February to produce a report to explore ways for independent and city-owned pharmacies to work together to address the gap left by Walgreens closures.
When the Potrero branch just closed, it was “the worst nightmare,” one employee said. Things have improved since then as the pharmacy has become more “organized,” they added. Both employees who spoke to Mission Local declined to give their names.
White, 23, has lived in the Mission for most of her life. The worst line she’d been in, White said, wrapped all the way from the pharmacy windows to the make-up aisle on the other side of the store. She waited for about 45 minutes, she recalled.
“It gets rowdy,” she said. “A lot of yelling. People try to cut in line. There’s a whole lot of ‘Can I speak to the manager?’”
She is considering switching to mail-order prescriptions. “There’s only this one Walgreens for so many people.”
Around 12:15 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, the situation had gotten worse. About 12 people waited in line as non-stop announcements played in the background, directing employees to come unlock the anti-theft cases in the vitamin department and other high value/small package sections of the store.
Frances, in line with her shopping cart, picks up her prescriptions once a week. She glanced back at the long line of a dozen people, and said it was pretty normal.
“They are not staffed enough,” she said. “There’s nothing they can do about it.” She hopes the Walgreens will one day hire more pharmacists so that all three windows are open during rush hours.
Alexa Guerra, who lives in Potrero Hill, knew that this location was crowded, so when the 24th and Potrero pharmacy closed she signed up to get her prescriptions delivered. But she needed the medications today — which brought her to the line at Walgreens during lunch hours.
“People are getting their prescriptions during their lunch breaks,” said Precious Amaechi, who waited a few places behind Guerra. “I have somewhere to be at 1, but I’m gonna be late.”
Living at Casa Adelante, an affordable housing project in the Mission, Amaechi said the Walgreens is the most convenient location for her. She visits the location every two weeks. “They need to hire more people who are willing to work,” she said. “People are not keeping these jobs.”
Joaquin Beltran, whose prescriptions were transferred to the Mission and 23rd Walgreens when the Cesar Chavez location closed in 2021, echoed the concern over short staffing.
“I thought they would have more personnel here,” he said. But that was not the case.
Beltran visits the pharmacy twice a month. Now he knows the drill. When he enters the store and sees people through the space in between the aisles, he walks around the store and goes straight to the end of the line.
He’s worried that as more pharmacies close in the Mission, many monolingual immigrants in the neighborhood would have nowhere to go.
“All these Spanish-speaking people,” he said. “What would happen if they close this one too?”
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JUNYAO YANG
Junyao is a California Local News Fellow, focusing on data and small businesses. Junyao is passionate about creating visuals that tell stories in creative ways. She received her Master’s degree from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Sometimes she tries too hard to get attention from cute dogs.More by Junyao Yang
