Walgreens employees plan to say goodbye to their current location at 444 N. Santa Cruz Ave. and move across the street to the site of the former Staples building. This move will nearly double the store's space from 11,000 to 21,000 square feet.

The new Walgreens will be open 24 hours, including its pharmacy station. To his knowledge, the nearest 24-hour pharmacy store is in Campbell, said store manager Mike Haws. The new store will also feature one-hour photo processing services except during early morning hours.

Though Walgreens proposed that deliveries be made between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., Haws said the current delivery time of 5 a.m. is ideal because the large trucks won't impede traffic at that hour, and nearby residents have never complained. About seven deliveries are made each week, Haws said.

While the Los Gatos Planning Commission has requested more information about how delivery trucks and a 24-hour operation might affect immediate residents, some people living behind the site said they are unconcerned.

"It's not particularly quiet right now," Monterey Avenue resident Karen Park said of her neighborhood. With FedEx trucks frequently driving down the street now, the neighborhood is used to heavy traffic, she said.

As a dentist, Bruce Springbett has seen enough emergency cases to know there is a need for a 24-hour pharmacy. Springbett, who has lived on Monterey Avenue for 43 years, remembers a time when the proposed site was home to a grocery store—a business that brought about a similar level of traffic as town staff believes Walgreens will generate. Having the grocery store at that site posed no problems for the neighbors, Springbett said.

Just north of the new Walgreens site is Safeway, a 24-hour business with a driveway and loading area at the rear that is adjacent to a residential area. Safeway has operated without complaints from its neighbors, according to town staff.

While Los Gatos resident Kaye Little has no objection to Walgreens staying open 24 hours, she said she will oppose the store's moving in if it continues to look much like the design proposed to the planning commission last month. The design featured a tower element, an increase in the maximum height from 23 feet to 34 feet 8 inches and the use of stucco material.

Calling the design "garbage," Little said, "it does not fit in with the character of Los Gatos because Los Gatos is a Victorian town."

"When I look at this, it screams at me 'Walgreens,' which is really good for corporate America, but I don't know if it's necessarily good for small-town Los Gatos," said Commissioner Michael Burke.

Walgreens representative Leslye Winslow had said at the commission meeting that Walgreens is flexible with the outside design and indicated that the company does own buildings without towers and that signs have come in all colors, sizes and materials.

Walgreens also has plans to landscape the front of the store and proposed moving the entrance from the center to the left side of the building. Since the store's pharmacy and photo processing sections are on the right side of the store, having the entrance to the left would force people to walk further into the store, thus hopefully increasing sales, he said.

The idea to relocate the entrance did not sit well with David Muston, owner of Los Gatos Camera, which is to the immediate left of the site. Muston, though he said he is delighted to have Walgreens as a neighbor, is concerned that if Walgreens moves its door closer to his store, customers headed for Walgreens will take up parking spaces near Los Gatos Camera.

Muston anticipates a parking problem once Walgreens moves into the center; it was a similar case years ago with the grocery store, he said. About 20 to 25 Alain Pinel Realtors employees, whose office building is just south of Los Gatos Camera, already park on the side of Walgreens, he said.

He also asked the planning commission to set a condition that Walgreens not have a sign advertising the one-hour photo lab.

"It's a secondary business for them and makes them a primary competitor for us," Muston said.

The planning commission unanimously approved Walgreens' application, with conditions that the entrance be moved back to the center; a traffic study be conducted to see if delivery hours should be further limited; that the colors and materials used on the outside of the store be earth tones and consistent with the town's look; and that the one-hour photo sign be eliminated.

The town has received no applications from prospective tenants to move into the existing Walgreens space, said Redevelopment Manager Marty Woodworth.

The next retail store whose application the planning commission will consider is Trader Joe's on April 9. Trader Joe's wants to occupy the old McWhorter's building on Los Gatos Boulevard.