CYPRESS, Texas – As CVS continues to scale its brick-and-mortar presence, closing more than 900 stores nationwide over the past two years, some of the shuttered locations are now creating a new kind of headache for Houston-area communities.
Through our 2 Helps You tip line, we received several reports of former CVS locations turning into illegal dumping grounds. One of the most concerning sites sits just off Huffmeister Road near Cypress.
Neighbors sound the alarm
“It’s pretty much become a dump,” said Kelly Sears, a resident whose home backs up to the abandoned property.
Mattresses, wine bottles, rotting furniture, and piles of trash now litter the lot—once a neighborhood pharmacy, now an eyesore and health hazard.
Sears describes daily scenes of people parking behind the property and engaging in suspicious activity. “I see cars parked back there passing pipes,” she said. “Every day I wake up, and it’s like a hidden game—what got dropped off last night? What got taken?”
Past cleanup, new problems
According to Sears, the property was cleaned last August after she contacted the previous owner. But after the lot changed hands, the trash started piling up again.
“It was clean for about six months,” she said. “If they had just blocked those entrances off, nobody could’ve come back here. Now, it’s just been building up again.”
She says the new owner has not responded to her repeated calls or messages.
A growing safety concern
Beyond the unsightly mess, Sears worries the trash poses a serious safety risk—especially during hurricane season.
“There’s a mattress in the drainage ditch because the wind blew it over there,” she said. “All those things can become projectiles and come through windows.”
Harris County Public Health confirmed that the current owner was issued a 30-day notice to clean the property. After three follow-up inspections with no action taken, the county began pursuing criminal charges against the owner.