Walgreens — Local services in Lynnwood

Very slow pharmacy staff. I stood in line for more than 10 minutes with 3 other people while the pharmacist chatted with a guy who was filling out a form. Who knows how long he'd been there before I arrived, but there was another person queued up in front of me so it must have been some time. They chatted about what ethnicity really means, vaccination eligibility, chatted about family for a while, then for some reason they were talking about printers...

I understand that people are socially isolated and enjoy interaction, but this isn't a social club. If you want to chat during slow hours, go for it! But not when there's a line. I tried going to the consultation counter to see if I could just drop off my prescription and the guy sharply said, "NO. You have to stand in line." and then walked off. I guess his terseness balances out the chattiness of the cashier.

Update: Even more annoying than that is when they don't even keep their posted hours. Sped home to arrive at the drive-thru 5-minutes before closing and they'd already shuttered the window, but I see that the counter is open inside. I park, go inside, and just as I get there, they've locked the doors and are leaving to go home. What an absolute pain. Why bother posting hours if you're not even going to honor them?

Update 2: Stopped by to get some passport photos. The girl working seemed new as she couldn't remember the code for the photo machine and forgot the number again after a few minutes. She then didn't know the difference between length and width on the listed specifications. She didn't catch that one of the people getting photos was wearing eyeglasses either. We were given an estimate of 10 minutes to get the photos and ended up standing around for 30 minutes only for her to forget to give us the digital thumb drive that we ordered. When I returned to pick up the thumb drive, they forgot to put one of the two photos on it. Not surprisingly, when I arrived to get the thumb drive, they now have a sign up stating that the photo counter is now closed due to staffing shortages. What a catastrophe this Walgreens has become.

Update 3: Now they are so short staffed that they keep closing the drive-thru. Someone with COVID had to come into the store even though she was feverish and coughing to spread it to everyone else who was waiting in the incredibly slow line. If I could give negative stars I would.

Update 7/16/24: Unfortunately one family member still wants to fill her prescriptions here and of course the pharmacy was awful again. I called to ask about a prescription and the woman flatly cut me off asking for the date of birth. Okay fine, you need that to look us up. But then she continued to flatly cut me off with a "too bad. Nothing I can do." bored flat attitude. If you hate your job this much, quit and let someone...

Now open til midnight daily (but see pharmacy hours), this Walgreen's is clean and well lighted, and the staff is wonderful. The pharmacy staff is excellent. They're smart and knowledgeable, prompt and responsive, friendly and great at explaining things simply. They've also made inquiries for me many times when they weren't obligated to do so. The pharmacy is open til 10 pm on weekdays - but not evenings on weekends.

The general team members at this Walgreen's are also helpful and friendly; they continually impress me by going to great lengths to help me find products, locate allergen information, check in back for more stock, and answer my many questions. At least seven of them have warmly sought to be of help and trotted right off to get what I needed. We recognize each other now, smile and wave, maybe chat a bit. It's unusual to find so many upbeat, helpful, and genuinely warm people in one place; whomever hired them did a fantastic job!

Even the manager is friendly and listens well - she too has gone above and beyond, advocating on my behalf for better labeling of gluten-free products (that's my one complaint about Walgreen's, the company lacks a current list of gluten-free Walgreen's products, and most OTCs are not allergen-labelled - so I must pay for brand name products). She listened attentively and sympathetically to my rant about the problem (what can I say, it was a bad day), announced her full agreement, noted the seriousness of the problem, and wrote herself a note to speak with Walgreen's higher ups. I know managers are taught to soothe irritated customers, but I also know plastic empathy from genuine caring. She wasn't just humoring me, she was being an honest person who truly heard why labeling is so crucial - and was willing to help do...

We recently moved here from Bellevue and have had such a good experience at this store I had to leave a review. I've always liked going to Walgreens for our prescriptions because it's so easy when we travel and their app is easy to use when refilling. I've been a Walgreens customer for over 20 years and I really didn't want to change that. Shortly after we moved to Bellevue the store on 24th street opened and I was excited to have one close to home. It was never a great store, but the pharmacy has been becoming increasingly horrendous to work with. Some of the folks there are nice, but for the most part they were rude, terrible to communicate with, LONG lines, etc. In January one of my kids was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and we were spending so much time at the pharmacy that I decided it was time to break up with Walgreens. I was about to switch pharmacies when I realized that we would only be living in Bellevue for about two more months, I decided to hang in there until we moved and tried out a new Walgreens. My rope was so thin that one bad experience at our new Walgreens would have sent me packing. I'm pleased to report that everyone I've encountered has been awesome!! I'm always in and out quickly and when I ask a question they can answer it confidently. I'm so happy I can stay...