This was originally published on January 15, 2006, but it is just as important as it was then:
In Sean Kirst’s open letter to Walgreens, he says, in reference to the Drake University neighborhood’s design criteria worked out with Walgreens, “The neighbors made a stink, and your people sat down and worked it out. You moved the entrance of the store up to the street, so shoppers could walk in the front door. You selected a brick for the exterior that matched nicely with nearby college buildings. While many neighbors were opposed to a drive-through, you put it in the back, where it was out of sight.”
A walkable Rite-Aid:
Two Walgreens in Boston (from University United website): 
Another Walgreens, appropriate for an urban environment, at 4916 France Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN (from University United website) 
Walgreens in Poland, Ohio: parking not in the back, but store fits in with streetscape and is up against the sidewalk:
“How Walgreens could fit into the community” – Farmingdale, Long Island, NY, from the Vision Long Island website
Includes great pictures of other ways they envision their walkable community.
Walgreens in Eastwood – what they proposed the first time and what they proposed – and were approve for by planning commission – after over a year of community activism:
Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done!
As soon as you have any idea that a proposal for a drug store is in the works, contact the company, the developer and the planning commission with information about your group, its expectations for design and development, examples of what you expect to see, and assurances that you will follow through. Request early and frequent meetings with the developer so that a plan that is acceptable to the residents is the first one offered to the planning commission, thus saving the developer much time and money.
There is a lot more interesting information and tons of pictures of drug stores that can do it right at the University United website.
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