One of the pleasures of small-town living in days gone by was the local drug store. Hometown service and those little extra touches like ...
One of the pleasures of small-town living in days gone by was the local drug store. Hometown service and those little extra touches like the soda fountain made your drug store a place where you felt at home. In the last few decades, many of them seem to have been replaced by corporate chain stores. We gave up the personal touch for what we thought would be lower costs and greater consistency. But has that really worked out for us?
Local Drug Stores Are Just As Convenient
Thanks to modern software solutions that any drug store can get, you can have the same options as you do at the other places. Your doctor can electronically submit your prescriptions. IVR systems for pharmacies allow you to email, text or use touch tones to request refills. But when you get there, you'll see a pharmacist you know, rather than a different one all the time.Local Drug Stores Are Here to Stay
Remember when they were building a new big-box drug store on every corner? Sometimes they even built more than one. They haven't all stayed open, so if you left your hometown drug store because you assumed they were the "coming thing," you might be surprised to find that your local drug store has outlasted the competition. Maybe it's the salt water taffy, or maybe it's because it's not such a long walk back to the pharmacy counter.Local Pharmacists Care About You
You wouldn't want to see a different doctor every time you visited their office, so why would you want a different pharmacist every time you go to the drug store? Local drug stores are often owned by the pharmacist, rather than the pharmacist being just another employee. They get to know you and are in a better position to understand all the possible interactions of your medications. If you see multiple healthcare providers, often your pharmacist is the only one who really totally understands all the medications you're taking.Local pharmacists are also members of your community and support your local chamber of commerce, churches, little league baseball teams and other local institutions. If you're looking for a donation for your civic club raffle, don't bother checking with a big chain.
They may not have a soda fountain and ice cream anymore, but your home town drug store and pharmacy is still the best place to take your prescription and buy those little odds and ends.
