Liquor Land conquered by drug empire

Liquor Land, a veritable Ikea of inebriation for South End and Roxbury residents, will be transformed into another goddamned CVS drugstore after New Year's. David Abel reports in the Boston Globe:

...come January, after 68 years serving everyone from the homeless to college students to millionaires, the liquor store at Harrison Avenue and Northampton Street will close to make way for a CVS. "We used to hear gunshots all the time, but now it's safer, a nicer atmosphere," said [Jackie] Petrillo, 58, who co-owns the store and has managed it since the 1980s. "We worked for this day for so long, and now this? I just can't believe it." Adding insult to injury: It was her cousin, owner of the 75,000-square-foot building, who refused to renew her lease, opting instead for a negotiated deal with CVS.

The reaction among neighborhood activists is mixed, and Abel quotes one as saying, "It's no disappointment to lose a liquor store." Maybe a supermarket would be better on that site, but a CVS? I'll get my Nyquil fix elsewhere, thank you.