The city of Renton is now home to the first CVS pharmacy in the state of Washington. The new store officially opened its doors this past weekend and a ribbon cutting was held Monday with dignitaries from the region and from the company.

“Renton’s just the perfect place for out first store,” said Hanley Wheeler, senior vice president of field operations for the Rhode Island-based company.

Located at the corner of Benson and Carr Road, the 12,500-foot store will be the first of three planned to open in the Seattle market this year. Burien and Poulsbo are next on the list for CVS.

Wheeler said Renton was a great place to get a foothold in the region because of its proximity as a Seattle suburb and because its demographics make Renton “the type of town we have a lot of success in.”

Wheeler also noted that like the diverse neighborhood in which it sits, employees at the new Renton store speak a total of 15 different languages.

“It speaks to the diversity of the neighborhood,” Wheeler said.

The new store is also the first CVS in the nation not to sell tobacco products. Wheeler said it was a “hard decision” to begin removing a product that accounts for $2 billion in sales nationally, but said the company decided that tobacco products have no place in a store dedicated to helping keep people healthy.

Other store sin the chain will begin removing tobacco products, but the Renton store is the first to open with any in stock.

IN addition to the opening, CVS donated a check for $10,000 to Renton’s Community Activity Nutrition Network to be used in the development of a new community garden in the Benson neighborhood.

Economic Development Director Cliff Long said the opening speaks very highly of the city that CVS choose this location for its first store int he market.

“This is a great thing for Renton,” he said, adding that the project was also a beautiful piece of redevelopment for the neighborhood, including a pedestrian plaza at the corner in front of the store.

“I think it’s going to be a great addition to this particular neighborhood,” he said.

Chamber of Commerce Director Lynn Wallace agreed, adding that Renton is now home to the region’s only IKEA, only Fry’s Electronics and now its only CVS, as well as being the home of the Boeing 737.

“It’s show real encouragement for our regional spotlight,” she said.

The new store will employ about 30 people.

During remarks at the grand opening, Mayor Denis Law welcomed CVS to town and said the store is already a “big home run” with residents in the neighborhood, but noted that Wheeler’s description of Renton as a Seattle suburb wasn’t quite accurate.

“Seattle is really a suburb of Renton,” Law joked, welcoming the store to the city.