Walgreens Continues to Make Case to Open Hamburg Turnpike Store

Discussions moved forward at Tuesday's Board of Adjustment meeting as the Wayne-Hamburg, LLC, continues to make its case to bring a to 1235 Hamburg Turnpike. The 1.4 acre property was once a Friendly’s and will be located across from the Preakness Shopping Center, where a CVS is currently located.

Attorney Susan Rubright of Roseland-based BrachEichler, said that Walgreens has been trying to find locations in “stand alone” stores as opposed to strip malls and the 1235 Hamburg Turnpike location was the ideal site.

The Walgreens, she said, seeks a more autonomous and individualized location that would attract the attention of drivers and passerby on Hamburg Turnpike. The plans call for a sign with the Walgreens logo 25 feet off the ground on a pylon with an LED screen advertising specials under the logo. The sign would be located 22 feet away from Hamburg Turnpike.  

But Board chairman William Van Gieson said he was concerned that an LED sign could be too intrusive in Wayne. 

Rubright, along with Site Engineer Andrew French, said Walgreens would be willing to forgo the LED sign for a manual sign and even was willing to lower it by 20 feet. 

“They would be willing to forgo the LED sign without prejudice,” said Rubright.

But Van Gieson said he would prefer Walgreens to forego the manual sign all together. Rubright responded and said Walgreens would be willing to lower the sign even further to 15 feet.

“If business owners had their way, they would put up a 50 foot by 50 foot sign advertising every item they had for sale,” said Van Gieson. “We try to make a concerted effort to keep signage in control.”  Van Gieson said the goal was to keep the aesthetics of the town appealing and to prevent a form of noise or clutter that could be distracting to the driver.

Ultimately, the variance was denied. The next scheduled meeting is set for July 18.*

*Note: The story has been updated to reflect updated information.