Something not mentioned, at least while I was there - we have a Walgreen's in Teaneck - on Teaneck Rd. - so there is a choice now of at least four different pharmacies - at SIX locations (not including what is available in dollar stores and supermarket - wait, make that superMARKET. Someone pointed out recently that Teaneck residents appear to need more drugs than food. . . The movie theater would be, I believe, the kind of anchor a Main Street needs. But, somehow, I get the feeling that this is a done deal. Is there going to be a Township sponsored hearing?

OK People ...lets get a store that will attract people from other towns to come to Teaneck ....Just like some of the People of Teaneck.. go to.. lets say ...Hackensack to shop at a" Target" or " Shop Rite".... Another Pharmacy will not do this!!!! A Drive thru is dangerous!! I have heard people say " Nobody shops in Teaneck it is a boring town.. there is nothing to do there!!!"

i really hate this Walgreens idea BUT what is the other option? empty stores? Nobody else wants to open a business in Teaneck i guess. Town of drugstores!

My name is Joe and I own Smokey Joe's on Cedar Lane. I live in town. This issue creates a lot of opinions and heated feelings, but if you drown out the static what you hear people saying repeatedly is that they want: a movie theater, a Starbucks, and a non-kosher restaurant - either a cafe or a diner. If you filter through people's opinions, you will see a lot of support for this. How can we work to build consensus around this? How can we get the town to help turn this into a reality?

Yes, another Pharmacy, you have to be kidding??? Another bank? Please... Bring us a Starbucks where people can sit and meeting and walk around. Bring us a movie theater and bring us a viable diner or It's Greek to Me or something but not a Pharmacy.

Many of you miss some important points.
First, Louie's is gone and is not coming back. The spot was for sale for some time, & was not picked up. It's done.
Second, The Roem"s have a right to make decisions that are best for them. Their business has fallen off, and that impacts their ability to profit from the service center.
Third, no one talks about the responsibility of the landlord, who owns the theater building, of making the necessary upgrades, or encouraging a tenant to do so. We just hear complaints that the theater folks didn't take care of the building. While I agree they didn't, & ran a second rate operation, there has to be a working relationship between tenant & owner- or nothing will work.
Fourth, we have an anchor on Ceder Lane. I don't particularly like it, but it is a dollar store. It is unattractive, low grade, a bit trashy, and successful. Please spare any comments about an ugly anything else as long as the dollar store is successful.
Fifth, J &J is not a traditional pharmacy. They are a rather stable business, working in compounding and infusion, which will not be impacted by a Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, or anything else. And they have an awful Cedar Lane presence: It is down right ugly.
Sixth, the previous Walgreen's was ugly and dirty. When we first moved here, 12 years ago, I went in and walked out. Now, they seem to have learned.
And lastly, we have enough empty store fronts on Cedar Lane, and no one else interested in investing.

Wow... can not believe Walgreen will transform some part of ugly, old and disgusting Cedar Lane...... We should support Walgreen if only for this reason alone.....

But this is Teaneck...... I forgot...

On Cedar Lane we have an Amazing Savings, which is a discount house. People come from other towns to shop there. Perhaps if top notch national chains aren't interested in establishing a presence in Teaneck, we should take a lesson from the remarkable recovery of Bergen Mall (Bergen Towne Center). We need to get stores that attract and entertain a mix of ages and interests. Walgreens doesn't cut it imho.

People can want a Starbucks, movie theater or restaurant all they want, but if they and their friends don't bring in enough business so the establishment can pay its bills, it doesn't matter what anyone wants. I agree that some of the stores need to be unique enough that many people will want to come to them, even if they don't love Cedar Lane. Unfortunately business goes on, and if Walgreens is the only one making an offer (which I just don't get, since it failed a little further down the road), we will probably end up going through the same pattern again.

I am a lifelong resident of Teaneck, since the 1940's, and am getting angrier and angrier about what is happening to our town! Why would we even think of bringing in a big box conglomerate such as Walgreens BACK to Cedar Lane when already Teaneck has: a) had a Walgreen's there that they that had to close; 2) there is a huge Walgreens on Teaneck Road and State Street; 3) already has 2 big CVS's in town; 4) has lost 2 smaller long-time pharmacies (Miller's and Teaneck Drugs) that were put out of business by these conglomerates; and 5) even consider allowing this kind of commercial enterprise to start eating up Teaneck? We really need a Starbuck's, some outdoor eateries which have certainly revived Englewood, and Ridgewood. Let's support our own Teaneck residents in their businesses, not the big guys who do nothing for us. We have always prided ourselves on being a unique, diverse town...let's keep Cedar Lane with the same image!! Would Mr. Katz want a Kosher Chinese Buffet to move into town with super "CHEAP" ?? offers and have his Chopstix suffer? Mr. Katz, STOP MAKING DEALS AND PROMISES BEHIND OUR BACKS!!!!! We need a Council FOR THE PEOPLE and one that will WORK WITH THE PEOPLE!!!! Enough shadiness and lowering our standards and reputation! Submitted by: Carol, a Life-Long Resident

Carol; you do realize Walgreens is (according to people quoted in this article) the ONLY real tenant to express interest in the location. I would of course love a starbucks and outdoor dining but they DONT WANT teaneck... see the problem??
also, how is Katz involved with this at all? i havent read anything about that..

This store should be designed with the pedestrian first, vehicles second. On that note, the parking lot needs to be placed in the back of the store, not in front as is proposed.

It looks like the parking lot is shielding the store from cedar lane in the rendering.

And some second floor office space would be nice... imagine going to the doctor and have them tell you to pick up your prescription downstairs?

I have seen many Walgreens in North Jersey in Teaneck Hackensack and Paterson, and they are all dead spots as far as street life is concerned.

Many are located on a commercial streets there is life and people walking about but as soon as you come to Walgreens it is nearly always surrounded by a giant asphalt parking lot like a moat.

To the township planning board, do not allow them to build as if they are an solated commercial parcel.

the need to follow some sort of design standard and integrate into the street scape a parking lot in front is not called for.

to all those saying that Walgreens should not be moving there...it is not your property nor the town's.

Compelling Walgreens to follow a design standard or integrate well in the street scape is within the purview of the township, but denying them the right to exist ( by giving them the runaround or abusing code) or placing a more mortarium on big box stores is a blatant abuse of power

Barbara and carol: what does town govt have to do with this??? Walgreens is a business..they are following the market. All these nice places like Starbucks and fine dinning are NOT interested in coming to this town.

Gotta admit that the rendering looks like a very attractive upgrade to that run-down section of Cedar Lane, which is appealing. But again, it's so silly to add another pharmacy when there are several CVS's within a 2 mile radius, one within a stones throw, Alvin's pharmacy at the bottom of the hill and J&J ACROSS THE STREET.

Everyone mentions Starbucks. I think that would be a perfect addition to the area, (and make sense for them if you look at their locations on a map) but would they tear down and rebuild? Add parking like Walgreen's? Doubt it.

Unless some of other, more "eclectic" developers start showing interest in buying property and offering up plans, then what other choices do we really have? Do we need to seek them out and beg them to come here? Or just complain about the one decent offer that finally pops up?

Nick: Teaneck need to be business friendly... period..... Developers will find Teaneck in no time..... We need to make zoning changes (free) and let us designate whole Cedar Lane a multiple mixed use high rise building zone. Than sit back and see what market forces will do to the run down area Cedar Lane is and has been for ages.

Developers will buy out and raze everything in sight and rebuild the whole area much like they did in Englewood. High rise condos with big chain stores and big name restaurants downstairs...... The best thing is that it would not require hiring consultants and firms or any such thing.....
But this is Teaneck we are talking about... it ain't gonna happen here.....

Starbucks gave up on Teaneck years ago. A recent trip to San Francisco saw a brand new Walgreens open up in a closed Virgin Records store, only a couple of blocks from a larger Walgreens. The newer stores are essentially 7-11's that sell perscriptions, drinks and bus passes! The store I saw was much smaller than the Bergenfield store and had about 20 parking spaces.

This used to be a suburb ! There seems to be a concerted effort in the last ten years or so to recreate the big city atmosphere most ran from in the first place. Everyone demanding services and then complaining of high taxes. I've lived in this town since 1960 and lament the changes i've witnessed. Time for me to leave and head for a more civil existance. Adios muchachos !

Note: The Walgreens application will be heard Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Teaneck Library. Here's the official agenda: http://www.teanecknj.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.pageDetails&id=20343&typeID=384

We should take note, since Englewood Cliffs is currently heavily pushing the approval of a new office park in what many consider "the middle of nowhere", accessible only by car for LG Electronics. This site will house 1,200 employees!

An office tower in the heart of Cedar Lane or West Englewood would do wonders for the local stores and also keep the workers in the proposed tower happy being in an actually downtown with things to do during their lunch break other than eat in the company cafeteria.

Look at what is being proposed in middle of nowhere! Just imagine the customers that a project like this can bring to Cedar Lane!

Tell our elected officials to promote 175-foot office towers with ground floor retail!

NOW ALREADY!

http://www.northjersey.com/englewoodcliffs/Englewood_Cliffs_corporate_tower_plan_under_fire.html

interesting

go watch the cars line up to go through a drive-thru in any store when the weather is bad, during rush hour with people going to and from work, before and after school starts, during flu season, parents with young kids, older people, people with disabilities...this does not include traffic patterns for high volume stores

add in the fact that some customers need 2 minutes of your time and others need 15 minutes or more in the drive thru while the other cars back up because no one wants to go into the store

add on the fact that even if the prescription is ready to sell, it can take you 15 minutes to even find it in a high volume store because you have to check multiple bins, shelves or discover the medication was in the fridge and you didn't know because you were unfamiliar with the medication

see if the store wants to put in two lanes

someone saying "a pharmacy drive-through would not produce the same steady flow of traffic as a coffee shop" might be correct but that does not mean there there would not be a significant amount of traffic or that there might be a steady flow of traffic due to other factors...also flow could be higher or lower at times than a coffee shop

this does not count the new changes coming where you will to enter information for id to pickup certain medications on top of asking for balance rewards card and email on top of consultation questions, insurance problems, payment problems...

add on time needed to promote flu shot, shingles shot and medicare part d appointment reviews during open enrollment

add on the people who had some issue with their order or insurance the first time they come who have to come back after we change the order or call insurance

what items and services are going to be offered in this 10,000 square foot store?

food, frozen yogurt, smoothies, salads, wraps, sushi, cheese, eyebrow shaping, hair salon, eyeglasses, optometrists. beauticians?

what items and services might be coming in the future to attract more customers? wine and beer?
what else?

there might be more local business affected than convenience stores, card gift shops and small pharmacies

if walgreens says the new store will create a certain number of jobs, ask how many are fulltime, parttime and estimated hours

can't predict the future but other walgreens stores nearby might not stay open so some people might be transfered to new store and fulltime positions changed into parttime positions to reduce benefits and costs

pharmacy kiosks also reduce labor needs and costs

@watching it all from afar:
So what was your point?

Watching it all from afar might be saying that Walgreens has been known to leave out information. One example is telling you that you won't get the sale price on an item without their new balance rewards card while management can be asked to give you the sale price without the card. A second example is giving you a price for medication with the Walgreens savings club and not tell you that you could compare drug prices online and find coupons or other retailers that are cheaper or don't have the same restrictions. A third example is asking parents "Do you want this medication flavored", having parents say "Yes" and pick out a flavor, and then parents are told the flavor will cost $2.99. What they don't tell parents is that most of the medications already come flavored. These are the three examples that come to my mind at the moment.

I would not assume that Walgreens will volunteer specific information on anything they plan to do in the future or in the proposed 10,000 square foot store.

Just to be straight I find Teaneck to be their own worst enemy they say they want a Starbucks but when they were looking in this town trying to get in Teaneck would not give them the concessions to make that a reality. We had cafes and no one comes to them. We now have a new one and i have not heard it mentioned even once they have food although a small menu lunch, dinner and talent there just what everyone is or has been asking for. Its on the previous Blast location also what everyone wanted but no one went to. Maybe if people ask for and then frequent themselves or the town works with the businesses that want to be in town things might look up for Cedar Lane and Teaneck in general.

there is a board of adjustment meeting tonight in the teaneck library at 7 PM

i hope many people come out to voice their disgust with this plan and ask the board of adjustment to deny all variances and bulinding permits.

Teaneck.....becoming like East Timor one day at a time...

Taxes, Taxes Taxes This Chamber of commerce has overseen the biggest exodus
of busineses from Teaneck. The answer let buildings sit empty homeowners should pay all the taxes. I have not heard of one established business in all the comments that is even considering Teaneck. Hackensack looking better choice already.

Our town has found another reason for people to avoid Cedar Lane. They are posting plain clothes police in cross walks to hand out tickets. They are following a town that has the highest rate of these problems. Why punish teaneck residents for problems that exist in other places. We don't have the problem but hey if the police can handout more tickets and chase residents from Cedar Lane, Council another great idea!