By Carrie Napoleon, Post-Tribune correspondent
Walgreen Co. recently announced that it'll slow the pace of new store openings this year, but it remains unclear how that will affect stores under development in Northwest Indiana.
Developers have been working with the towns of Griffith, St. John, DeMotte and Crown Point to develop new locations for the drug store chain.
However, Robert Elfinger, spokesman for Deerfield, Ill.,-based Walgreen Co., said the only location he could confirm for a 2009 opening is DeMotte. The site is set to open in the fall of 2009.
Elfinger said he has no record of proposed sites for Griffith, St. John or Crown Point. But that does not mean locations are not in some stage of development.
"There could be a possibility," he said.
Until a lease has been obtained on a proposed location, as has happened in DeMotte, the company cannot provide information, he said.
Donche Andonov, Griffith's building commissioner, said the site at 45th Street and Cline Avenue is being developed by Gray Cannon of Chicago, which has obtained all plan commission approvals.
The next step would be to apply for building permits.
The location at Burrell Drive and Court Street in Crown Point, being developed by Aetna Development of Chicago, also has gone through early planning stages with the city, according to Steve Nigro, planning administrator. Building permits have yet to be issued, which is not uncommon, he said.
"The site plan is good forever, as well as the variance," Nigro said. "It is up to their schedule."
In St. John, a location at U.S. 41 and Indiana 231 also is under development and has completed the planning stage. Building permits have yet to be issued, according to town officials.
Walgreen spokeswoman Vivika Vergara said the company plans to open 495 stores in fiscal year 2009, which began September 2008. She said 189 of those locations were opened in the first quarter.
The move is part of Walgreen's cost-cutting plan, which is intended to save the company $500 million in fiscal 2010, and $1 billion per year starting in fiscal 2011, according to a news release.
In another cost-cutting move, the company announced it will cut 1,000 jobs by midyear, or about 9 percent of corporate management, through a combination of voluntary buyouts and layoffs.
Walgreen President and COO Gregory D. Wasson said further slowing of store growth is wise, considering current economic conditions. The company will continue to open new stores in strategic markets, on the best corners, and which offer the greatest rates of return.
"Furthermore, by freeing up human and financial capital, substantial upside exists to drive greater value creation by enhancing the best community-based store network in America," Wasson said in a statement.