A fixture on Main Street that has been in business 126 years is closing next month in my town. St. Croix Drugstore's owner is retiring at 80 and selling the building. The store stands on the corner in the heart of downtown Stillwater. It has served the community well and will be missed by the senior citizens who rely on having their prescriptions called in by the Dr. and delivered by the store.
One of the factors leading to the demise of this pharmacy is the number of people buying less expensive medicine on the internet. Many insurance carriers also designate where you can fill your prescriptions for a discount. The independent pharmacist is in trouble. The eighty year old owner said this was not the reason he is closing the store. He just wants to be able to travel and enjoy time with his family. Perhaps, but the resale of the business probably was did not tempt many to become an independent pharmacy.
When I was the night supervisor at our community hospital, I remember one night the pharmacist went into the store in the middle of the night to fill a prescription (for a child) that we could not locate. They took their turn providing limited hours on holidays like Christmas so patients could get medications for a new illness. When I was pregnant with my last child twenty-one years ago, I was sent to this pharmacy to order special support stockings. They were expensive and I pulled out my credit card rather than deplete our checking account. The pharmacist didn't want to put it on a credit card. He just told me to pay when I could. That doesn't happen at the big box stores.
http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2007/06/01/news/news220.txt
One of the factors leading to the demise of this pharmacy is the number of people buying less expensive medicine on the internet. Many insurance carriers also designate where you can fill your prescriptions for a discount. The independent pharmacist is in trouble. The eighty year old owner said this was not the reason he is closing the store. He just wants to be able to travel and enjoy time with his family. Perhaps, but the resale of the business probably was did not tempt many to become an independent pharmacy.
When I was the night supervisor at our community hospital, I remember one night the pharmacist went into the store in the middle of the night to fill a prescription (for a child) that we could not locate. They took their turn providing limited hours on holidays like Christmas so patients could get medications for a new illness. When I was pregnant with my last child twenty-one years ago, I was sent to this pharmacy to order special support stockings. They were expensive and I pulled out my credit card rather than deplete our checking account. The pharmacist didn't want to put it on a credit card. He just told me to pay when I could. That doesn't happen at the big box stores.
http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2007/06/01/news/news220.txt
2 comments:
When I was little my mom and my grandma helen took me to a store just like this quite often.
I remember it was called the .05 and .10 store. It doubled as a pharmacy too.
To the left were some items that children would be interested in. Paper dolls and jump ropes. Bubbles and taffy. I couldn't wait to get my foot in that store.
I knew the mom and pop who owned it and later the sisters. We would see them in church. I would see so many people in church from our town. Things are so different where we love now. Same town but totally different.
It's a shame when stores that offer so much for the community are either not able to compete or sold for other reasons. It changes the whole neighborhood.
Good old Rexall is closing? This is the store you sent me and Mike to when he was looking for an old fashioned shaving brush. For some reason he wanted one and had been looking for years. Sure enough Rexall had it, along with the special lathering soap. Of couse it looked like it had been on the shelf for some time...
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