This is a black hole of customer service. The store is ridiculously understaffed. The lines are long, the existing staff is supremely unhelpful. After two weeks I am still trying unsuccessfully to transfer my prescriptions to another pharmacy. read more

The pharmacy staff is completely incompetent. Insisting I pick up an Rx when no such thing happened. Still trying to clear up the issue to no avail. read more

Worst pharmacy ever. A. Getting through on the phone, to speak with a pharmacist, is nearly impossible. B. They don't contact you, or the doctor, when you're auto-refill prescription expires. C. They seem to have only one pharmacist. If you come to pick up your prescription and he's on a break, the other people who work the pharmacy tell you you have to wait for his return, they are not authorized to give out prescriptions without the pharmacist present. Cannot tell you how many times I've had to wait 15 minutes for the pharmacist to return from his break. After spending hours on the phone today, trying to reach a pharmacist, I finally called the Berkeley Walgreens on Ashby, and a human answered! I'm never going back to the Gilman Walgreens. read more

If you need your prescriptions filled and/or available for pick up, go somewhere else. I have used this pharmacy on and off for years now only because it is walking distance from home. It was bad from the start, now it's atrocious. They will send you multiple messages about prescriptions to pick up, but when you show up, they'll say they don't have any and claim no knowledge of the messages. They will say they never received any prescription from your doctor, or never received a refill authorization, or never got an authorization, and blame your doctor's office. Doesn't matter if 5 different doctors tell you a scrip was called in, staff at this Walgreen's will say nobody called it in. The phone lines here have gone out several times. You can call and call, be routed through their obnoxiously long phone menu, only to be left on hold for a while before being disconnected. I showed up after trying to get through for 2 hours. There was a sign on the front door saying pharmacy was not available at that time. No explanation given. Finally, good luck getting your prescriptions transferred- other pharmacies can't get through. And undoubtedly even if they do, staff here will claim nobody contacted them. Incompetence, ineptitude, and/or just complete denial of accountability, it really doesn't matter. This place is a headache with bad attitude AND lots and lots of rats in the parking lot. Good way to ruin your day. Since they are holding my prescriptions hostage, I am having my doctor call in all new scrips to a different pharmacy. There is no excuse for this level of terrible. read more

I come here because my health insurance has some deal with Walgreens so we have to get all prescriptions filled there. This particular store and pharmacy is basically the lesser of the local evils. It's just super junky and I always dread coming. There are a few slivers of good amongst my complaints. There never seems to be enough staff working to open more than one register. If a second register does open, good luck getting any help elsewhere is the store. The staff seem polite but overwhelmed and overworked. I think they have to deal with a lot of thefts. The line at the pharmacy can sometimes be 10+ people long, but my interactions with the pharmacy staff have been fine. Photo printing is easy if you order online and go pick up. Just be ready to wait for sometime to help in the photo section. Parking can be troublesome in the busy lot if it's a weekend when REI is busy. Besides the photo shop and pharmacy, I'd 100% go to CVS or Target before coming here. read more

Came to pick up paxlovid for a friend. Online schedule says pharmacy closed 1:30-2:00 for lunch. Sign next to pharmacy window says closed 1:00-2:00 for lunch. A third sign (that I and the five other people waiting in line with me right now did not see) says closed 1:00-2:30 for lunch. No fault to the individual employees but Walgreens as a company needs to do better. Without warning, they recently acquired a local pharmacy, Pharmaca, that did not have these issues. Would have gone there if I could. Walgreen's gave no notice to Pharmaca employees, no severance, and will not be hiring them. read more

Never been in such a horror show of a pharmacy in my life. Privacy violations, horrible service, terrible wait times. Avoid if at all possible. Any medical problems you have will only feel worse after dealing with this incompetence. read more

Pharmacy is Horrible! If I could rate 0 stars I would. The manager Mrs. T. of Pharmacy is a complete Jerk. Very RUDE and Nasty Customer Service. All the staff treats you like crap. I've complained several times to the manager and treatment is still the same. Horrible. I would advice you to go to another Pharmacy because Service is HORRIFIC. THE MANAGER NEEDS TO LEARN HOW TO SHOW RESPECT TO OTHERS, My mom has been going here for a long time. Always been the same Manager and throughout the years she has lost people skills. We will be changing to new pharmacy. Can't take being disrespected anymore. Cooperate Offices, please change Pharmacy manager!!! I would appreciate it. I think she have been there to long and she also acts like she hates her Job. Never ever does this lady smile. read more

Be warned!! This pharmacy is the worst pharmacy ever. You will have to stand in line for over an hour only people to be told that oh we're out of that prescription. You cannot call in to inquire to see if they have your prescription in stock because they do not answer the phone. The pharmacist who runs the pharmacy is an absolute total jerk. He is rude, disrespectful, and just so out of line. When I spoke to the manager on duty for the store they seem to act like they've heard this before. Nothing is going to change because that man still works there. So just be forewarned, this pharmacy is not worth wasting your time going even if it's right next-door to your house. read more

This pharmacy is randomly temporarily closed, with no indication of when it will reopen. Transfer your prescriptions elsewhere!

This is my neighbourhood Walgreens, which also conveniently shares the same lot with Chipolte and REI. This also makes parking here either easy or hard, depending on chance and traffic on Gilman. If necessary, I'll park across the street at Office Depot. And once I'm here, why not shop at all the mentioned stores and throw in Fenton MacLaren, Hida Tool, Happy Donuts, and even Tokyo Fish Market for good measure? Once I'm inside, this Walgreen's is pretty much like all the others. In addition, it's my backup Pharmacy (after the Albany Target). And as Mr. Spock might say, the service and selection is adequate. After all, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. read more

Walgreens' meds are on the pricey end here. parking lot cramped. some beers and wines available. so so pricing buys: barefoot "merlot" on sale (4.99) -great price! not totally smooth. take out: -fast, friendly checkout. read more

No issues with this Walgreen! Solid parking, solid staff and almost no wait time. The FEDEX area was quick scan and take for items and you were also able to do quick sales at the area as well making the wait time for the checkout line that much more efficient. Will come back again when possible! read more

I had a Covid vaccine appointment today but had to wait almost an hour, as did another customer who had an appointment at the same time. No one else was there for a vaccine. The pharmacy operation did not seem to be set up for vaccines and lacked organization. Understaffings was clearly part of the problem. They need to get their act together! read more

Can't speak to the entire store, but I've always had good experiences at this pharmacy. The staff are efficient and always accommodate last minute requests. Definitely my go to pharmacy in the area. read more

Not sure why this walgreens has such low ratings. I work in one of the neighboring businesses and I come here almost every day. Every time I come I'm greeted with a smile, and all the employees are friendly. The comradery between them is fun and just generally nice to be around. They do have a huge cosmetics shoplifting problem, but fortunately the nail polish is in a very visible corner so its not too picked through (thats my guilty pleasure) I feel bad because they cant just constantly keep replacing everything in cosmetics and watch it get wiped out by shoplifters so its all just empty and sad but its also not their fault people feel the need to resort to shoplifting. Basics though like lip products and foundation they keep stocked. I always find what I need. The pharmacy guys are also really friendly and nice, never judgemental or anything, just really smiley and pleasant to do business with, like the rest of the store. Overall I recommend this place. They attract a certain amount of undesirables but they handle it well and don't let it affect how they treat their actual customers, which is really good and somewhat rare tbh. I will be coming here as long as I work nearby for all my drugstore needs. read more

I am still undecided on this area. I don't know if it is quaint or shady. Anyways, found this location when I needed Tums after a couple of days of gluttony. Nice store with surprisingly plenty of employees who were helpful. read more

Really the worst pharmacy I've ever used. Almost every time I've gone in there, there are people in line who urgently need their prescription to be filled only to be turned away at the counter. For me, it took them three days to fill a basic prescription. On top of that, they rarely answer their direct line. Most of the time, they'll keep you on hold endlessly or just hang up on you. read more

The Walgreens pharmacy on Gilman in Berkeley is very crowded and understaffed. It frequently takes an hour just to pick up a prescription, yes an hour! Every time I have gone in there are 25 to 30 people waiting in line. When I called, I was on hold for 30 minutes and then they just hung up. I have never been able to talk to them. read more

This is hands-down the worst pharmacy I've ever used. Every time I come here I've either had to wait 45 minutes or more or come back hours later. There is always a 10-15 minute long line and from what I've overheard other customers saying it sounds like everyone is forced to come back later to get their prescriptions. I've never seen someone walk up and get their medicine. The staff is friendly but if you actually want to get your medication, go elsewhere. read more

This pharmacy is understaffed and therefore completely unreliable. Even if you call ahead and they say your prescription will be ready, that's no guarantee it actually will be. Until/unless they're able to hire more people, go to a different pharmacy. read more

Very, very poor service at the pharmacy, both with the window staff and pharmacist. Never seen anything like it...it is as if they want to do everything possible to not be helpful. Also, this walgreens is randomly closed early at times, so be sure to check before going. read more

Terribly run pharmacy at this Wallgreens. I made an appt for a Covid booster. The day of, I got a mssg saying I would have to reschedule but the mssg was very hard to hear so, just to be sure, I called back and was told that my appt was still on. I showed up, waited in line for 20 min only to be told they were out of Covid shots. Last year I had the same experience at a different Wallgreens in San Rafael. I think this company is foundering. read more

If I could give this store a -10 I would. I was on hold for 2 hours and when I came up on their queue the call was disconnected from their end. So I went to the store and the pharmacy was closed because the staff didn't show up, ( the whole freaking staff?) 2 hours of my precious time down the drain plus I couldn't get the medicine I needed for a lung infection. The store is understaffed, inefficient, lacking in customer service and half the time when you show up in line either your prescription is not ready or not even in the queue. I've heard customers who came in in front of me who couldn't get prescriptions prescribed, by their doctor and were told to come back the next day when they had already came in before and we're told to come in the next day. One woman came all the way from San Francisco and came across that. Honestly they should close that branch although I can't say that any of their stores are places that I'd want to change to. The one on Ashby and San Pablo is worse. When you see a picture of their website, it shows a long line leading to the pharmacy, expect to wait only to find out they can't help you. read more

I just took my 13 year old son to get a Covid vaccine at this Walgreens, and if it was not for my persistence they would have denied my son his first vaccine dose. Let me tell you why: they wanted to deny him a Covid vaccine because my 13 year old son did not have a valid photo ID. Did I mention he was 13? So after a few minutes of discussion, they allowed him to get a shot. By the way, we had an appointment, I had my ID and his insurance card, I was willing to sign an affidavit swearing that he was my son and he was 13. When I got home to reread the email that was sent to us, I saw nothing about a youth needing and ID, a birth certificate, or anything of that nature. What Walgreens email stated, ironically, was this: "Patients that are unable or unwilling to provide a valid government issued ID card will not be turned away from receiving the vaccine." This is the quality of service you should expect from this particular Walgreens. read more

I went there to print my pictures last night after 8 pm. And I got my pictures after only 3 min I completed my order !!! I can't believe how fast. read more

Walgreens - This is just one of them - Drugstores Near Me - Berkeley, California

I work fairly close to this location so I often pop in for this and that and while obviously you are not expecting 4 star service from a Walgreens but I always have had pleasant or at the very least decent checkout associates. I was in today on my lunch break and feeling a bit under the weather and overwhelmed with the myriad of cold and flu medicine choices I asked the gentlemen (term used incredibly loosely) behind the pharmacist counter for a recommendation for a sore throat and sinus headache. He looked straight at me and then spun on his heels and began walking away halfway through my sentence. I followed him, assuming he was going to the cold aisle to help me pick something out when he disappeared through the employee only double doors. O-kay.... I picked something out for myself (honestly, why I bothered even asking for help is beyond me. Maybe I thought the friendly pharmacist from the Walgreens ads would appear) and went to wait in line. He walked past and didn't even acknowledge me. I somewhat sarcastically said "Thanks for the help" He told me he had other stuff to do. Fine, I get it, you're busy. We all are. The proper thing to do would have been to say "I'm sorry, I am dealing with another task, would you mind waiting or can I find someone else to help you?" I asked the girl at the counter if there was a manager, she told me he was it. Awesome. Now I am going to be rude, Screw you Walgreens manager. read more

So frustrating! I needed photos printed, so I filled out the online form. I got a confirmation email saying to pick them up in half an hour. Great! I waited an hour to be sure that they would have them. When I came in, the woman was rude and kept asking me if I had clicked the submit button on the online form. Yesss, which is why they sent me a confirmation email. So, I wasted a trip. The next day, I called them. After being on hold for 10 minutes and asked yet again if I had clicked the submit button, I was informed that they did in fact print the pictures yesterday. Gas is not cheap, stop making me waste time because of your terrible service. I will not be shopping here anymore. read more

This is one of the most frustrating places I have ever dealt with. Screwed up my prescriptions again and again... and again. Every single time I have gotten a prescription, some kind of problem comes up. They've had me running in circles because my insurance didn't work, when actually, they made a typo and misspelled my name. In another instance, I needed to buy a product in the store recommended by my dentist. They insisted they did not have it and looked baffled when I showed them the product online; after searching the store, not only did I find the product, I found about three different versions of it. Somehow I got on their automated call list and kept getting unsolicited phone calls about my prescription even days after I had picked it up. Bottom line: the pharmacy is terribly disorganized and they will blame/put the burden on you to sort out their mistakes. read more

The only reason that I would give this Walgreens a five star rating is Carl. Every time I go in, he is such a friendly, personable guy. I just went in to do a return and there a was a long line of people. Despite being the only cashier on duty, he took the time to make a connection with every customer and make them feel special. He made mine and my girlfriend's night and we talked about it all the way home. If Carl isn't on track to get some kind of promotion, someone is doing something wrong. People with that level of customer service don't come along all that often and I hope you're utilizing him to his fullest potential. read more

I received my vaccinations at this location. Friendly staff - safe and professional.

I've only been to this Walgreen's after 9pm on Wednesday nights, due to it's close proximity to my therapist's office. So, I'm usually exhausted and may have spent an hour crying. That said, I actually like this outpost. I mean, it's a Walgreen's. You run in, grab toilet paper, garbage bags, kitty litter, etc; maybe some nail polish and ice cream, if you're feelin' sassy. This is the ONLY store in about a bazillion-mile radius that carries my favorite shade of hair dye. And it's frequently ON SALE!! I've been known to grab 3 boxes of the stuff at a time here. That's worth 2 stars in and of itself! I've found the staff to be pleasant and efficient. There is one cashier of Indian/Pakistani lineage that I adore for her friendliness and knack for small talk. We had a nice little chitchat about Dunkin Donuts coffee one night as she rang me up. Also, big plus, they've always re-loaded my Clipper card quickly. At other Walgreen's I've had to wait around and then had the manager act like I just asked him/her to move a mountain for me. Here, they're nice about it. Yay! read more

This Walgreen's pharmacy had been my go-to spot for many years, for its proximity and staff who were knowledgeable, personable, and efficient. The staff has changed several times, and now there's some weird official posted lunch period on weekends, when the pharmacy is closed. The final straw was this past Friday, when I waited patiently in line for no apparent reason (staff behind the counter were 'free-ranging' and not minding the customer counter). When my turn finally came up, I was told my new prescriptions would be ready in 45 minutes. I was almost too embarrassed to ask the obvious question: did they already have my new meds in stock? I waited another few minutes while someone reluctantly checked. I was told no, but probably the Ashby branch would and I could drive over and probably get my prescription filled there. So, I got back in my car and drove to a local CVS, filled my prescriptions and arranged to transfer all my existing prescriptions from Walgreens to CVS. read more

I love this walgreens and their selection. Everyone is super nice except the manager: Katherine C. I think she needs to not be downrating the walgreens across from the berkeley bowl, she is going to get bit by karma. It would be cool if they made room for a new manager, probably why Katherine C. is mad. read more

I didn't have a good experience here. I think the guy is too old and incompetent with technology. They need to train their employees better or hire some younger people. read more

BEWARE IF YOU NEED A PRESCRIPTION!!! The entire pharmacy department walked out, I hear, and that's exactly what it looks like. You can have your Rx sent and it will be accepted (all electronically) but there's no one to fill it. That means you can't move your Rx to another pharmacy because they've gotten approval from insurance and now your insurance tells you it's too early to reorder even though you never got it. Nobody but Walgreens can call your insurance and there's no one there to do it. It's completely dysfunctional. My doctor's office said that Pinole and a few other Walgreens have people calling to resend their Rx to other places. My first and last experience with Walgreens. This is criminal behavior. What if my Rx was for a serious condition? Omg this is way too scary. Run to anywhere else but Walgreens. I'd suggest CVS in Target, Albany. They're both pleasant, functional and efficient. read more

Wow. Can you say crappy? This place, though it has parking and is opened past 5pm, blows. Its filthy and disorganized. A lot of the stuff they sell is way overpriced, as well. The worst thing though, the most unforgivable thing, everyone who works here have the worst attitudes EVER. It's not my fault that you work at Walgreens, ok? So don't take it out on me. Be happy I'm buying something that's going to help cover your paycheck. read more

A decent Walgreens. I rely on this Walgreens for my photo printing and have not been disappointed. When you combine the ease of their phone app with the available coupon codes, the service pretty much sells itself! As for the actual store, the lines can get long pretty quickly but they're good about opening a new lane. read more

Terrible terrible location during these COVID times. I went about 2 months ago to print out some pictures and a man came in, clearly on drugs, getting very close to my mom and I without a mask on. We would walk away to show we need to socially distance and he didn't care. We asked the employee nearest us if he could ask the man to put on a mask as it's MANDATED, and he said they don't tell customers to do so. Apparently they're not allowed to. Even though it's a law these days!?!? How am I supposed to feel safe if they freely let customers come in to their (unventilated) store and walk around without masks? We are in the bay, not Texas. Masks are mandated. I haven't been back since and not planning to during Covid times. They clearly do not care about customer safety. read more

Call before going to pharmacy. It was closed on Saturday when I went at 0845 but I didn't wait because the cashier told me it won't open until 1000. The new time listed online was 0900. read more