Wally Shong closed indefinitely

Pharmacy shuts down due to neighboring structure
“It is falling down as we speak. I’m surprised it hasn’t crumbled and fallen in.” - Bob Wetmore, Wally Shong Pharmacy Manager

by Bridget Cooke
Editor

Update: As of Tuesday evening, the Augusta City Council decided to approve the recommendation of the building inspector to declare Ball Club condemned, which hastens a 30-day allowance for the owner to make a decision as how to proceed, given the safety issue of the building under the jurisdiction of a state chapter declaring the structure a public nuisance. Wally Shong Health Mart has taken over the vacant building beside Augusta City Hall and is preparing renovations with hopes to move back into the community within two weeks.

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Augusta’s Wally Shong Health Mart on Lincoln Street has relocated out of the city after officials have cited the vacant business, Ball Club Bar, which shares a wall with the pharmacy, as condemned and advised everyone to leave and remain away from the premises.

Pharmacy manager Bob Wetmore said in a phone interview Tuesday that the business is doing everything it can to accommodate Augusta residents in need of prescriptions through processes such as delivery and mail as well as pick-ups and drop-offs at a sister pharmacy location in Eau Claire, next to the Value Center Pharmacy on Clairemont Avenue.

He said given the report on the structural problems, he is shocked the building has remained standing to now.

“It is painfully obvious, I think, that the Ball Club Bar has been vacated for two years,” Wetmore said. “It is falling down as we speak. I’m surprised it hasn’t crumbled and fallen in.”

The pharmacist said city officials became concerned with the structure after a building inspector visited Wally Shong’s and noticed the increasingly negative status of its neighbor building. Consulting with the state fire marshall, an independent structural engineer was brought in, who voiced concern if the wall should fall on the bar’s side, it would take the roof and wall from the pharmacy with it, causing harm to anyone within the building at the time.

Though Wetmore said he believes the city has been reaching out to the owner of the tavern, nothing has been settled. Unfortunately, due to the safety hazard of the potential of the falling building, Wally Shong has been ousted out of Augusta for the time being. Currently, people within the business are negotiating plans to return to Lincoln Street, though it will take an estimated 2-3 weeks for the health mart to be able to return.

Pharmacy workers encouraged anyone with questions or needing to speak to that office to call their building in Eau Claire at (715) 833-6770.

Everyone is hopeful they can make a positive future out of the setback.

“This may be a bump in the road, but I believe we will rise from the ashes, so to speak,” Wetmore said, citing an expansion as the opportunity to provide better service. “We are looking at it as a great opportunity to improve.”
 

In September 2013, Cooke was hired as the editor of both the Augusta Area Times and the Tri-County News. She can be reached via ateditor@media-md.net or (715) 597-3313. Follow us on Twitter or check out our Facebook page for more updates!

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