Former CVS sites get new uses

The onetime CVS at 545 Woodville Rd. in Toledo has become a discount store.

Four months after CVS Corp. pulled out of the Toledo area market, leaving 12 fairly new buildings behind, three-quarters of the sites have been or are about to be filled with tenants.

Three stores - at 5860 Lewis Ave. and 3448 West Sylvania Ave. in Toledo and at 7358 Secor Rd. in Lambertville- were bought in January by CVS's chief competitor, Rite Aid Corp., and immediately were converted to Rite Aids.

Toledo businessman Nick Hasan bought four other sites and is negotiating for two more. The sites will become Giant Dollar stores that deal in liquidated merchandise.

His first Giant Dollar store, at 545 Woodville Rd. in Toledo, opened last week. By the end of May, he plans to open Giant Dollar stores in Toledo at 551 and 5245 Dorr St. and 2532 West Laskey Rd.

He said he is in negotiations to lease the former CVS sites at 3948 West Alexis Rd. and 1655 South Byrne Rd. in Toledo.

Mr. Hasan, who owns nine gas station/convenience stores in the Toledo area, said he was looking for new business opportunities when a partner in a business venture suggested he looked into the dollar-store concept.

``The concept is very good and we were able to work out a pretty good deal on all the space by dealing directly with CVS,'' he said.

Most of the CVS sites were built between 1997 and 1999 when the company was in a competitive battle with Rite Aid. CVS decided to exit the metro Toledo area in January, leaving buildings of about 12,000 square feet each, which generally are considered too large for many stores but too small for the major stores.

CVS, which has long-term leases on the sites and must pay rent on its closed sites, plans to sublease its remaining locations at 3020 Cherry St. and 1520 Broadway in Toledo and at 4900 North McCord Rd. in Sylvania.