Sunday, July 29, 2007

Nazareth Pharmacy Joins Koehler's in Selling to Wal Mart

The Express-Times has an article today about the Nazareth Pharmacy closing and selling its pharmacy business to Wal Mart, as Koehler's did this past fall (read the article here).

While citing numerous issues related to government regulation, reimbursement rates, and other national issues, the article fails to mention that both pharmacies were located within short walking distance to both Doctor Snyder and Kessler's offices. Both doctors retired roughly ten years ago and while I have but anecdotal evidence, it would seem the loss of their practices would have had an impact.

I'm sure many people, like myself, visited one or the other and then went to one of the two pharmacies to get their prescription filled after the visit. Once the Doctors retired and new ones were found by patients, possibly outside the borough, it became less convenient to drive in for a prescription when one passed several chain pharmacies on the way.

The chains are using economy and efficiency of scale that independents can't replicate and it is a shame to see the end result, the closing of a family business, but it has been happening in incremental steps in all forms of retail for many years. The big question is what can compete with these chains, be able to thrive in the downtown, and benefit the community.

3 comments:

Michele said...

I think you mean they sold to Wegman's not Walmart. I am an RN working in a specialist's office in Easton and I will tell you that whenever our office needed to call in less common medications, I could always be guaranteed that the Nazareth Pharmacy would have the medication. That was often the case with other independent pharmacies in the Lehigh Valley, too...they were often our lifesavers over the chain drugstores!

river said...

True Michele. I sat at a Riteaid with a prescription and after 40 minutes they told me they didn't have it in stock. A big problem for local drugists now is the fact that many health insurance prescription plans now days require you to mail in the prescription for a maintainence drug to be filled by them. That caused a lot of lost business for the local store that are mostly family owned. I am sure that Wegmans and Walmart make a lot more on food and item sales than they do on their pharmacies so they can absorb all the extra costs which the local family owned store just cannot. I am sorry to see them go too.

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