So Long, Pharmacy. Hello, Smoke Shop

(Updated) Whalley Avenue customers now have to head downtown to fill their Walgreens prescriptions — even as a new smoke shop moves in to satisfy their Westville smoking needs.

Such is the latest with the changing retail landscape on one of the city’s major commercial corridors.

As of last week, the Walgreens at 436 Whalley Ave. has closed. The national-chain pharmacy and convenience store announced in February the shuttering of the Whalley location, effective March 20.

The red, swooping Walgreens ​“W” has been whited out from the ex-pharmacy’s sign by the parking lot near Whalley and Ella T. Grasso Boulevard.

A ​“Store Closed permanently” notice taped to the front door states that the pharmacy’s prescriptions have been transferred to the downtown Walgreens at 88 York St.

Mitchel Maidman, whose New York City-based company MCH Whalley LLC owns 436 Whalley Ave., said that Walgreens’ lease for that location does not expire until 2033. ​“We anticipate the continued payment of rent by Walgreens,” he wrote. ​“Re-tenanting the premises is an option for Walgreens to consider.”

Mayor Justin Elicker told the Independent in a statement that the closing of this Walgreens ​“is part of a nationwide downsizing of stores for Walgreens in response to financial pressures and challenges Walgreens is facing as a company – and also part of a broader shift in the industry. We don’t view it as a statement on New Haven.”

1 Smoke Shop Leaves, Another Moves In

A mile west up Whalley, another corner store — this one in the heart of Westville Village — had appeared to have closed.

On Monday morning, the Harvest Mart’s ​“Smoke Shop” sign was still hanging in the window looking out over West Rock Avenue; inside, the shelves were bare, and the ​“Fine Cigar” sign was dark. The store was empty of people and merchandise.

By Monday afternoon, however, a new smoke shop at that same spot appeared to be coming to life.

A four-person crew from 4D Signs Express Inc. of Clifton, New Jersey, carried brightly colored signs into the store from a box truck parked at the corner of West Rock and Whalley. 

“Bongs. Hookah. Exotic Snacks. Cigars,” the Whalley-facing window displays now read, in yellow text running above lights pulsing with multi-colored lights. ​“Puff Puff” reads one of the many signs on the inside.

Two of the workers on scene Monday afternoon said they were there just to install new signs; they said that the shop is under new ownership, and will remain a smoke shop. They said they didn’t know the name of the new owner, and they didn’t know exactly what would be sold here. 

Click here to read an Independent article from September 2024 about how the previous operator of the Harvest Mart smoke shop, Hassan Alsufyani, wanted to open up a full-blown convenience store with food and drink, but local zoning laws instead boxed him in to selling just tobacco, bongs, e‑cigarettes, and vaping products.

If this new smoke shop is indeed under new ownership, it could run afoul of new local smoke-shop regulations that the Board of Alders passed and Mayor Justin Elicker signed last week. One of those new laws updates the city’s zoning code to limits where tobacco and vaping vendors can open up around town.

The new zoning rules prohibit such retailers from opening within 3,000 feet of one another. Another smoke shop already sits right across the street, at the site of the former Dunkin’ Donuts on the island bounded by Whalley, Fountain, and the closed-off block of Central. 

The operator of Harvest Mart and the owner of 837 Whalley did not respond to requests for comment by the publication time of this article about what might come next at that site. 

A spokesperson for the state Department of Revenue Services, meanwhile, told the Independent that two business registered to 837 Whalley — Harvest Mart Inc. and Falcon Smoke and Convenience LLC, the latter of which lists Alsufyani Hassan as owner — do not have valid licenses for the sale of cigarettes and tobacco.