Walgreens store #6760 has long served its patients and customers living in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, but each spring for the past 10 years, a different kind of customer visits, one with feathers and a mission of motherhood.
A Canada Goose, affectionately called “Mother Goose” by store team members, doesn’t need a prescription filled or a vaccination—she just needs a safe spot to lay her eggs. Situated by a predator-free retention pond and a short distance from Busse Woods forest preserve, the Walgreens store is apparently an egg-cellent spot to build a nest.
“All the customers notice her,” says pharmacy manager Lisa Grzelak, who has worked at the store for three years. She says customers and staff delight in “Goose Watch,” eagerly waiting for the eggs to hatch.
It’s hard to say if it’s the same goose that keeps returning to the Hoffman Estates Walgreens, but Grzelak says her colleagues who have worked at the store longer than her remember a goose laying eggs store-side for at least the past 10 years. Even when the store’s sidewalk was renovated, the workers left the nesting area alone. Geese can live over 20 years, so it’s possible there’s just one Mother Goose at this location.
Some of team members attend to the Mother Goose’s comfort, putting out a dish of water and some food nearby, but wildlife experts say it’s best to keep your distance.
“We tell everyone not to go near her,” Grzelak says.
A goose laying her eggs near a Walgreens is actually not unusual. Anecdotally, many team members have shared stories like this one from our Hoffman Estates store, and local media in Arkansas reported that goslings hatched in a Walgreens parking lot a few years back. Even animals know Walgreens is a trusted and convenient healthcare destination for all.
Grezelak says Goose Watch 2024 continues, and that customers and team members are expecting Mother Goose’s clutch of five eggs to hatch in about two weeks. The father goose is also known to make an appearance around when the eggs hatch.
“Our community is so nice, and everyone is really excited about it. It’s something we’re all looking forward to,” Grezelak says.
