There is one store that I always go to if I just need to pick something up really quick, if I ran out of diapers at 9 pm, and where I've picked up medication and prescriptions for years. That store is always my neighborhood Walgreens.
For so long I've always gone to Walgreens for household illnesses, a gallon of milk, or even a little toy for the kids. Shampoo, nail polish, and a variety of clearance products, there's always something I need to pick up that I can find there. It's always been that one-stop-shop and somehow it's always managed to be the closest little store by my house, no matter how many times I've moved. It's that store that's dependable, and I love it even more now that they've developed a rewards card.
In San Francisco, all the buildings are big and grand. It's part of that wonderful San Francisco experience. If you were to just walk past this particular Walgreens, you wouldn't even notice that it's about 18,000 square feet inside, or that it's a 2-story Walgreens. I love that! When you walk in the door, it literally takes your breath away. This store takes one-stop-shopping to an entirely new level!
The Walgreens "flagship" style stores are designed to compliment the communities where they exist by supporting the Walgreens vision of becoming "My Walgreens" for everyone in America, the first choice for health and daily living.
This is just a glimpse of what the first level has in store. I walked in the front door and didn't know where to start!
The Main level has hundreds of fresh food items including produce and high-quality, on-the-go meal options such as wraps, sandwiches and salads made fresh daily.
Fresh salads and sandwiches, at Walgreens? Seriously?! I've always stopped at Walgreens before our kids football games to stock up on snacks, candy and drinks, but I've never seen one that has such a huge choice of fresh and healthy choices!
Here there's a large choice of sushi, cakes, burritos and other meals. I've never seen anything like it, and yes I purchased that Red Velvet cake, and it was DIVINE!
Here we have more salad, yogurt and fresh fruit, vegetables with dips, hummus and other meal options. What more could you want?
Even more salads! These look pretty delicious, I'd say!
The store's expanded features also include several flavors of self-serve frozen yogurt accompanied by an enticing toppings bar. I love the screen above that shows all of the various flavors and combination choices.
There's an Upmarket Cafe, offering a barista preparing fresh brewed premium coffee and espressos. A juice and smoothie bar featuring fresh fruits and vegetables included in distinct recipes that are named after various San Francisco landmarks and areas. I also love that the Upmarket logo is on a look-alike bridge, which is one of the most famous landmarks of San Francisco.
Fresh juice, chilled and ready to go!
Local, freshly baked goods are also available.
More baked goods and desserts brought in daily by local bakers.
There's a robust selection of beer, wine and spirits and quality products appropriate to celebrate special occasions. Once again, more distinctive signs showcasing what makes the San Francisco Bay Area unique!
There's even a replica display of Ghirardelli Square that will pay homage to Ghirardelli's local history and will offer one of the largest selections of Ghirardelli premium chocolates and gift selections in the San Francisco area. It's beautiful, and they were on sale with your Rewards card!
Towards the back of the downstairs area, you can find the California Fresh Market. This has fresh produce and dairy products, many from local farmers.
Also towards the back of the downstairs area is a large variety of souvenirs that can be found through local vendors on the streets of San Francisco. I love all the aprons, oven mitts and of course the mugs!
It was time to go upstairs, and see what more this store had to offer (as if I hadn't already seen more than enough!) The pharmacy is located upstairs, as well as the health and beauty products. This store isn't your average drugstore with a few aisles of makeup and hair care. Oh no! This is home to the LOOK Boutique. Think of a high end department store, and the feel of their cosmetics department. That is what you get when you arrive in the LOOK Boutique.
Now I know I'm a foodie and this is mainly a food and recipe blog, but before I knew how to cook I always knew makeup, hair and eyebrows. I'm a glamour girl at heart, and I was LOVING the upstairs area.
This is Marcia, and she made us feel special by giving us all a personal and private tour before the doors were officially open. She showed us all around the Beauty and LOOK Boutique.
As you can see in the background, this is no ordinary beauty department at Walgreens. It has the look and feel of high end beauty products. Beautiful hardwood floors and natural lighting overhead. It's the epitome of everything you want when you go shopping for beauty items. Impressed is an understatement.
One of the first things that caught my eye was the Demeter Fragrance Library. This has many fun scents and you are more than welcome to try any and all scents. These are fun, because you can combine a few together to create your own custom scent! There's so many to choose from!
Here's a few of my favorites. Of course, they smell like food. So even when I'm not in the kitchen, I can smell like I was cooking something delicious! Fun, right?
This is another fun item, it's a lip gloss by Gosh Cosmetics. There's a mirror on the cap and the gloss stick lights up! So if you're in a dimly lit restaurant, you can still apply your gloss without the guesswork. Love it, and the colors of the entire line are gorgeous!
I was invited to attend this event with a few other local bloggers, and I loved our group! I "borrowed" this photo from Isis at
Bay Area Mommy, and hope she doesn't mind!! From left to right is Isis, Shannon from
The Mommy Files, our tour guide Marcia, Brandi from
Mama Knows It All, and little ol' me!
Right next to the huge windows with perfect natural light shining through is the Ramy Eyebrow Bar. Here, you can find expert brow shaping and grooming services.
Ramy is a well known eyebrow guru, and he trains each of associates himself. He had some great tips and was very friendly. Isis from
Bay Area Mommy got her eyebrows done and we were amazed at what a transformation it was. Her brows were gorgeous to start with, but he gave it a little oomph! That's me pictures above with him. I was too chicken to get my brows done, but looking back I wish I had!
There's Shannon from
The Mommy Files getting her shopping on! We had a blast!
I loved the Social Command Center, it was displaying all the tweets and photos from twitter that came up with the hashtag
#SFWAG, go check out everyone's tweets about this event!
Once our tour was over, it was time for the ceremonies for the day and then the grand opening! These guys spoke of the long history of Walgreens and why San Francisco was chosen for the next flagship store. This store is the first flagship store located in Northern California and employs about 90 employees, creating 50 new jobs! The San Francisco Mayor, Edwin Lee, came and proclaimed it was "Official Walgreens Day" in San Francisco!
Once the speeches were done, the ribbon cutting ceremony began and the store was now open for business! It was only right since we were in the heart of San Francisco that dragons came through the building to bring good luck! I love that the culture of San Francisco was evident in so many ways in this store. It is definitely unique and one of a kind because of it.
"50 Reasons to Love San Francisco" and Walgreens is now one of them. I'd have to agree!
Walgreen's core purpose is to help people get, stay and live well. Everywhere I went in the store, there was a friendly face that would offer assistance, and smile and say "Be Well". I love that! Nothing beats a friendly smile and extraordinary customer service. That, combined with everything in this store equates to a lovely shopping experience.
This store is unlike any drugstore you've seen before, and it provides a differentiated experience from what you would normally expect. For
even more photos of my experience at this Walgreens,
check out my Google Plus photo album!
