As the CVS corporation gears up for the closure of its Pennsylvania Avenue SE location, several Ward 7 residents are in the throes of a campaign to preserve what they describe as a critical resource for residents of all ages.
Deborah Johnson, a longtime resident of the Twining community, told The Informer that, without a CVS branch nearby, she and her neighbors would be forced to travel as far as Marion Barry Avenue SE to pick up and refill their prescriptions.
It’s nowhere to park over there, and its not conducive to traveling, said Johnson, a member of the Twining Community Group. If you have to leave this area and go up to Good Hope Road [Marion Barry Avenue], you have to catch about three buses if you don’t have a car, and that’s totally unacceptable.
On the afternoon of July 2, Johnson and several other Ward 7 residents converged on the CVS Pharmacy located at 3250 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, where they demanded, if not a change of heart from CVS, then the exploration of alternatives of like or better quality.
For nearly an hour, Johnson stood among the large crowd of concerned residents, sign in hand, as speaker after speaker took to a podium and reflected on what could be the longlasting effects of the CVS Pharmacy’s closure on a community reeling from health inequity.
Johnson and dozens of other residents later walked along Pennsylvania Avenue, near Branch Avenue, waving signs and belting chants as drivers honked their horns in a show of support. She told The Informer that, in this crusade, shes representing her neighbors, several of whom consider the CVS Pharmacy on Pennsylvania Avenue a critical part of their daily lives.
We know the pharmacists in the area, Johnson told The Informer. They have healthy snacks and it just doesn’t make sense for us not to have a CVS here. The residents are not going to get their… prescriptions in a timely manner because they have to go up on the other side of Alabama Avenue, and a lot of them that can’t drive anymore would have to catch an Uber, a Lyft.
Unwelcome News for a Community of 40,000 and No Answers as of Yet
This CVS pharmacy, located right below Branch Avenue, is scheduled to close on July 9 nearly 18 months after the CVS branch in Columbia Heights in Northwest shuttered, reportedly due to revenue loss from shoplifting.
This branch is one of less than a handful of CVS stores located east of the Anacostia River.
A spokesperson, responding to an Informer inquiry, forwarded a statement on the store closure, saying that CVS reached its decision after examining local market dynamics, population shifts, a communitys store density, and ensuring there are other geographic access points to meet the needs of the community.
All prescriptions will be transferred to the nearby CVS Pharmacy at 2724 Good Hope Road SE to ensure patients have uninterrupted access to pharmacy care, the statement read. 2724 Good Hope Road SE is less than a mile away from the closing store. Patients can always choose to fill their prescriptions at any CVS Pharmacy, or the pharmacy of their choice, if another is more convenient. Employees are being offered comparable roles within the company.
For several years, this pharmacy and retailer has been the only of its kind serving more than 40,000 residents living in a jurisdiction that includes: Dupont Park, Fairfax Village, Fort Davis Park, Greenway, Hillcrest, Naylor Gardens, Penn Branch, and Randle Highlands neighborhoods.
Amid the launch of eateries and other amenities in the nearby Penn-Branch shopping center, Store #1335 relocated from the shopping center to a standalone building. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Keith Hasan-Towery, whose single-member district includes the CVS pharmacy, said residents have since enjoyed the accessible and highly visible amenity.
The beauty of having a pharmacy here is that a lot of people are able to get their prescriptions filled, Hasan-Towery told The Informer. Because it is a bigger store, they are able to offer things that small pharmacies can’t. They can get certain discounts with some prescriptions.
In May, Hasan-Towery and other civic leaders coalesced around efforts to save the CVS pharmacy after residents reported receiving notices about an impending closure and instructions to pick up their prescription at the CVS branch on Marion Barry Avenue.
The general manager at that branch later confirmed the unwelcome news of CVS impending closure, Hasan-Towery told The Informer. As he recalled, what followed was a meeting with civic leaders, outreach to Ward 7 D.C. Councilmember Wendell Felders office, and what he described as unsuccessful attempts, via phone call, email, and certified letter, to speak with CVS corporate leadership.
The first few replies have been like those very cookie-cutter replies, the ones they just send to everybody, Hasan-Towery said. We have not had any real conversations with corporate CVS at this moment, nor have they really responded in a real way to the community to talk about what’s happening.
Residents and Leaders Speak in Support of CVS and Economic Development
As of July 3, more than 1,400 people have signed a in support of CVS Pharmacy #1335.
On the afternoon of July 2, those who took to the mic, just feet from that CVS branch, included: Hasan-Towery, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners Travis Swanson (7B03) and Jimmie Williams (7B07), the Rev. Todd Thomas of St.Timothys Episcopal Church of D.C., Jacquelyn Cannon of the Pennsylvania Avenue East Community Coalition, Ward 7 D.C. State Board of Education Representative Eboni-Rose Thompson, and former Ward 7 D.C. Councilmember Yvette Alexander.
Members of Felders constituent services team also attended the press conference, as well as residents representing the Fort Dupont Community Association and Marshall Heights Community Development Association.
Barbara Morgan, a community member of more than 60 years, said she has memories of 3250 Pennsylvania Avenue as a car lot. She questioned the degree to which CVS corporate offices thought out their decision and outreach strategy.
Did they call the persons who have prescriptions here to let them know where to go to get their prescriptions? Morgan said, later expressing her frustration with inequitable access to healthcare resources. We are people just like people in Ward 6, in Ward 3, and the same commitments that they make to those people, we want them in the Silver Coast, which is across the Sousa Bridge.
Thompson pointed out that the CVS Pharmacy on Pennsylvania Avenue serves a wide range of residents including children.
We have some of the highest rates of child asthma, of child allergies, of child eczema, and guess where those kids need to come to get their support? They need to come here, Thompson said. So do their grandparents, so do their moms, so do their dads, and so it doesn’t matter if you’re 90 or if you’re 9. This CVS is a vital lifeline in our community for vaccines, for immunizations, for prescriptions.
Kirsten Anderson, a Penn-Branch resident who brought her two children to the press conference, reflected on how walks to the nearby CVS branch have become a significant part of their upbringing.
This is what they do, Anderson said. So CVS would be a real loss for us. This is the one thing that we have where our kids can walk to in our neighborhood.
Swanson spoke about the implications of the CVS Pharmacys closure for residents who depend on public transportation.
On paper, it might look like there are other CVS locations close by up at Skyland and up on Capitol Hill, which is great, but that’s not our reality, Swanson said. Ward 7 and 8 have the lowest rates of car ownership in the entire District. For someone who is sick, carrying children, or managing a disability, going an extra mile or two isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a barrier to care.
Alberta Paul, a Penn-Branch resident of nearly 40 years, said CVS should honor their obligation to the community, and not their thirst for higher profits.
The truth is you want to move this money that you were earning here to do something else other than CVS pharmacy, Morgan said on July 2. We demand respect. We are people who are intellectual and smart and we will start writing you, Corporate America, and asking the rest of America to ban you because if you do it to the District, you’re going to do it in Delaware, New Jersey, and everywhere else.
Later, Alexander, who was the D.C. Council health committee chairperson, met with representatives of the CVS corporation about their presence in Ward 7, expressed her skepticism about revenue being a factor in the corporations decision to shut down Store #1335.
We have traffic from Virginia to Maryland that come[s] up and down Pennsylvania Avenue, so that’s just bull, the excuses that you are giving, Alexander said.
Alexander wrapped up her statement with a warning.
We’re letting you know, it may be inevitable that you’re closing, butwe have options, she said in her message to CVS corporate headquarters. If you choose to close this store, we can transfer our prescriptions to another pharmacy. We can shop at another retailer that offers the same merchandise, and we will rally from Maryland to D.C., Capitol Hillto shut you down in the District of Columbia for your disregard [for] our community.
The Bigger Picture for Pennsylvania Avenue East
In 2023, the D.C. Council approved the , which builds upon a 2008 corridor land development plan by centering economic development and retail opportunity, transportation access and connectivity, housing opportunity and affordability, and what D.C. Office of Planning described as a vibrant public realm and urban design.
The small area plan, made with data collected during community engagement sessions, makes recommendations for: additional business and retail opportunities; support Black entrepreneurs attempting to establish brick-and-mortar stores along Pennsylvania Avenue East; and bolster Pennsylvania Avenue East Main Streets capacity to support retail development and growth.
Last month, hundreds of community members, including Felder, participated in Penn-Branchs first-ever Juneteenth parade. The holiday provided a break from budget deliberations that have taken several twists and turns, including as it relates to the development of RFK campus.
Shortly before the approval of a budget mark-up removing RFK campus from the Fiscal Year 2026 budget package, Felder warned his council colleagues against denying Ward 7 an opportunity to prosper economically.
Felders office didnt immediately respond to a request for comment about CVS Pharmacy on Pennsylvania Avenue SE.
On the afternoon of July 2, Paul Grant closed the press conference with what he would later describe to The Informer as a message focused on Black self-determination, rather than solicitation of corporations with no ties to the community.
For so long I’ve lived here, and economic development has always meant retail shopping. It’s always meant some big box store coming here, and not us raising up our own crop of businesses and building an ecosystem of small businesses, Grant said. So, going forward can we start having the conversation about the ecosystem of small business.
He emphasized the importance of holding leaders accountable about where funding is going and how it trickles down to Ward 7.
[Can we make] certain that when we say economic development, it’s about how much of the $11.4 billion dollars in tourism dollars we’re catching east of the river? he continued. How much in federal contracting are Ward 7 residents’ own businesses earning? Because who’s most likely to invest in our schools? It’s the person that lives next door to the school.