The changing of the guard when it comes to Viroqua businesses was bittersweet to watch last week.

Walgreens opened Thursday in downtown Viroqua as both the pharmacy operations for Langhus Pharmacy and Dahl Pharmacy closed.

Seeing two downtown Viroqua institutions such as Langhus and Dahl close has left a feeling of nostalgia and loss. Yet, with Walgreens opening, it’s hard to feel completely depressed over the situation.

That’s mainly because our friends and neighbors from Langhus and Dahl’s are working at Walgreens. Katherine Dahl and Mons Langhus, became pharmacists at the new Walgreens. Other familiar faces from Langhus and Dahl’s are new employees at Walgreens as well.

The new Walgreens employs 30 people, its manager is Edmond Cooke.

Walgreens spokeswoman Carol Hively said last week she doesn’t know of any plans for a grand opening for the store. The store is the 184th Walgreens store in Wisconsin.

Along with the pharmacies, the Dollar Discount store in downtown Viroqua closed Friday. It had been in operation since 2000.

Owners Lonnie and Andy Sherry have put the building up for sale. The Viroqua store opened in October 2000.

Lonnie said she is retiring, and her husband will continue working as a truck driver.

She said they decided to close their stores because the price of oil soared, increasing the manufacturing cost of plastic products and transportation costs for all products, and because “at this point you can go into most any store and they have a $1 section.”

Also, since dollar discount opened, both a Family Dollar and a Dollar General have both opened in Viroqua. There’s no lack of competition in the “dollar” business in Viroqua these days.

And the hardest closing “to stomach” last week for many area residents was D.W. Meats, located just north of Viroqua, which also closed Friday.

Owner Mariane Weidenbach said she decided to retire. She and her husband, Danny Weidenbach, started the business 30 years ago. She has owned it by herself since his death in 1979. The retail and custom meat business had six employees, including Weidenbach.

“It’s been a fantastic run for us,” Weidenbach said. An auction of D.W.’s equipment will be held July 28.

For a little business, D.W. Meats has had a strong, loyal following. People get that way about their butcher in small towns. They get used to the way meat gets cut and other products are made and taste. It’s hard to switch gears, but as time passes, people have to.

Last week was a rough one for small business owners in Viroqua. Four businesses closing in one week... Nobody wants to see that.

However, we wish those who are moving on to bigger and better things the best, and we thank them for everything they’ve done for our small, rural community.

—Matt Johnson, with additional information from Steve Cahalan