CVS To Close Concord’s North Main Street Location

CONCORD, NH — A Downtown Concord pharmacy is one of 900 closing across the United States next three years.

CVS at 46 N. Main St. will be closing on Jan. 8, 2022, according to the company. The store is one of the hundreds of locations to be closed across a three-year period as the company tries to adapt to changes in consumer habits, shifts in population, and customer health care needs.

“The closure of this store is not a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our employees,” Amy Thibault, the senior manager of corporate communications for CVS Health, said. “In fact, all employees have been offered and have accepted positions at other CVS locations nearby.”

Prescriptions, she said, will be moved to the store’s Hall Street location which is about a mile away. This, Thibault said, will ensure customers can continue to have “uninterrupted access to service.” Other locations in the region, including locations inside some Target stores, will remain open.

“We understand the disappointment of our closing store's neighbors and customers,” she added.

The building is owned by a trust controlled by Mark Ciborowski. It is assessed at around $1.5 million and was constructed in the 1870s, according to the city’s online assessing department.

For a number of years, Ciborowski, whose family and trusts own close to a dozen properties in the city, has been discussing renovating the Phenix Hall next door and constructing a glass structure to connect the hall to a new building, possibly around five stories, on the CVS lot. Plans for a boutique hotel and intimate music hall were bandied about for years before the Bank of New Hampshire Stage or The Hotel Concord opened. Ciborowski has promoted the concept repeatedly on tours of the historic hall where rallies and presidential speeches have been held in the past.

Deeding of the alley between the buildings as well as a 79-E tax break would be needed. The cost of the renovation project a few years ago was pegged at around $8 million — a price tag that is probably not realistic today, considering accelerated construction costs.

The CVS store location was once the historic Phenix Hotel which was located on the site before it was destroyed by fire, according to the New York Times. Phenix Hall was a banquet area for the hotel. Before the hotel was built, it was a three-story house that was also destroyed by fire in 1817, as noted last month in the Concord Insider.

Ciborowski did not return an email seeking comment before post time.

Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel.