The Death Of The Corner Pharmacy
Each morning that he unlocks the doors of Cottage Pharmacy, owner Ken Villani fights a losing battle.
Revenue at his Woodbury, N.Y., store has been dropping for months. But unlike at other retail establishments, sales at his pharmacy may not rebound in tandem with consumer confidence. That’s because more and more of Villani’s customers are getting their drugs in bulk from mail-order companies and no longer need to set foot in his store at all.
“I’m a dinosaur in the industry,” Villani says proudly of Cottage Pharmacy, which has been open for more than 30 years and today fills between 300 and 400 scripts a day. “Service has enabled us to survive up to this point, but we’re losing the customer traffic we had. If they don’t come in for the prescription, the less likely it’ll be that they’ll come in to buy shampoo or gum.”
Villani can’t fight mail order competition through store quality alone. Ironically, he relies on mail-order companies just as much as he contends with them.
The mail-order drug business is run by a few huge corporations that, since the 1980s, have acted as middlemen between drug manufacturers and consumers. Health insurance companies contract with these companies, known as “pharmacy benefit managers” (PBMs), to administer their customers’ prescription plans.
Photo by rx340b.com.
Sahail on June 23rd, 2009 10:06 pm
We face similar problems with post offices in our country. It is sad, but only from the viewpoint of nostalgia.
I think we should all look at this and not use words like ‘death’ etc. I know you didn’t necessarily choose that word, Rich, or maybe you did. I do believe that this is a real indicator of how the world is instead becoming much more competitive.
Imagine what kind of ‘job’ or ‘businesses’ our children’s children will be doing?
RedHotFranchises on June 24th, 2009 2:07 am
Another small business goes under. That is the way it is when you are the small fish in a big pond being eaten by the big fish.
Jaclyn on July 5th, 2009 12:37 pm
Many people are switching to mail order prescription drugs, however, it should be known that most of them it is not by choice. Alot of people switching to mail order drugs is due to them being retirees who’s insurance plan has changed and the only way they are covered is through the mail, or current workers at the big car companies who’s plans were also changed and can only obtain their prescriptions through the mail. Or some medicaid plans will only now cover prescriptions through the mail. From what i hear by about 20 or so people that use the mail order drug services, they are not even happy with the service and how long it takes to get their meds, but they have no choice, it’s either that or foot the bill themselves every month.
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