Walgreens is set to open the doors to its first Hawai'i store next week.

The nation's largest drugstore chain said its store on Ke'eaumoku Street near Ala Moana Center in the former Tower Records building will open Nov. 1 following a 9 a.m. blessing. After that, the store will operate 24 hours a day.

The company said local product suppliers are providing more items than is typical for Walgreens on the Mainland, with goods including grocery items, snacks, souvenirs and greeting cards.

Walgreens said more than 50 local product suppliers are helping stock the store.

"We've learned from our vendors what is important to Hawai'i's customers, and that's reflected in our merchandise offerings," said Dana Psomas, Hawai'i district manager.

In June, an estimated 350 to 400 people attended a meeting in Waikiki hosted by Walgreens intended to attract potential suppliers of local goods to be sold at the chain's Hawai'i stores.

Walgreens said its Ke'eaumoku store will lack features common for most new stores — drive-through pharmacy service and plentiful parking. The store also will be 13,000 square feet, compared with 14,500 square feet on average for new stores.

The Ke'eaumoku store is slated to be followed by three more stores opening in the second half of 2008. One of the stores will open at the former Star Market site in Kane'ohe, and one at the former Kam Bowl in Kalihi. Both will be about 14,500 square feet, and will feature drive-through pharmacy windows. A fourth store is slated to open in Lahaina, Maui, at Keawe Street and Honoapi'ilani Highway near Lahaina Cannery Mall.

Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens, which has about 6,000 stores, said it expects to eventually operate 25 to 30 stores across the state. Walgreens said it identified Hawai'i as ripe for entry because it is the last of the biggest 100 U.S. markets with only one major drugstore chain, Longs Drug Stores, which Walgreens figures has a roughly 73 percent share of the business.

Walgreens operates 6,014 stores in 48 states and Puerto Rico.