Q: The Georgia Welcome Center on I-85 near the South Carolina line has been closed for months and appears to be permanently closed. Why?
—Bill Smyre, Marietta
A: The Georgia Welcome Center in Lavonia is being renovated and is scheduled to reopen by Thanksgiving, a Georgia DOT release states.
The center was closed in July and originally was scheduled to reopen in mid-September, but “major plumbing issues” and material delivery delays pushed back that date.
The improvements, which will cost $720,000, are “being made from the roof to the parking lot and down to the water lines,” GDOT district engineer Brent Cook stated in the release.
They include new heating and air conditioning, drywall and paint. Low flow, automatic flush toilets and LED lighting with automatic sensors also are a part of the renovations.
Q: I just heard of a possible merger of Rite-Aid and Walgreens. However, Walgreens Boots Alliance was mentioned, instead of Walgreens Pharmacy, or something similar. Where did the boots alliance begin?
—Lance DeLoach, Thomaston
A: Walgreen’s Boots Alliance was formed last December when Walgreens bought Alliance Boots, an international pharmaceutical company.
Boots has more than 2,500 stores and calls itself the United Kingdom’s “leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer.”
Walgreens, the largest drugstore chain in the United States, owned about 45 percent of Boots before buying the remainder of the company in 2014.
Walgreens, which has about 8,200 stores, has plans to buy Rite-Aid Corp., which would add 4,600 stores, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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