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The village of Rushville is abuzz. While neighboring Naples last week took a big hit with the closing of its only pharmacy, an entrepreneur from Pittsford has set his sights on Rushville.
The Rushville Pharmacy is set to open this spring at the corner of Routes 245 and 247. Ray Gignac, owner/operator of his family business, Monroe Ave Pharmacy, already has store hours etched in the window and an attractive Rushville Pharmacy sign above the freshly painted door.
It’s a welcome development for the little village that straddles Yates and Ontario counties. It is also a rarity in this day and age.
Meanwhile in Naples, people protested the Feb. 15 closure of the Naples Pharmacy owned by Henderson’s Drug Store, Inc.
Henderson’s Drug Store Inc. owner Larry Jepsen said last week he expects to sell the former Naples Pharmacy building soon. He is talking with two interested buyers for the Main Street site, he said, including one who put in a purchase offer.
Jepsen said he couldn’t identify the potential buyers, due to their wishes for confidentiality. He did say those interested are from the area.
“I don’t have any idea what they want to use it for. They haven’t disclosed that,” said Jepsen. “All I know is that they want to get into that building as quickly as possible.”
After having a drug store for more than 80 years, Naples lost its only pharmacy when the store was shuttered last Wednesday.
Henderson’s bought the store through an agreement with Elmira-based RT Max development Co. in 2005.
After trying to sell the Naples Pharmacy to an independent pharmacy, including Quinlan’s Pharmacy & Medical Supply in Wayland, Jepsen sold the prescription files to CVS, which imposed a non-compete clause. That clause prevents the site from being reopened as a drug store or store selling health and beauty aids for one year.
J
epsen, who has been selling off most of his stores due to illness, said CVS would not agree to buy the files without the restriction.
Henderson’s Drug Store Inc. sold the Montour Pharmacy business in Montour Falls to CVS in December.
Jepsen has said the Henderson’s Drug Stores in Penn Yan and Geneva will not be impacted by the sales of the other stores.
Investment in Rushville
Despite widespread, negative pressures, Gignac said, people respond powerfully to the personal approach of a family pharmacy.
The village of Rushville is abuzz. While neighboring Naples last week took a big hit with the closing of its only pharmacy, an entrepreneur from Pittsford has set his sights on Rushville.
The Rushville Pharmacy is set to open this spring at the corner of Routes 245 and 247. Ray Gignac, owner/operator of his family business, Monroe Ave Pharmacy, already has store hours etched in the window and an attractive Rushville Pharmacy sign above the freshly painted door.
It’s a welcome development for the little village that straddles Yates and Ontario counties. It is also a rarity in this day and age.
Meanwhile in Naples, people protested the Feb. 15 closure of the Naples Pharmacy owned by Henderson’s Drug Store, Inc.
Henderson’s Drug Store Inc. owner Larry Jepsen said last week he expects to sell the former Naples Pharmacy building soon. He is talking with two interested buyers for the Main Street site, he said, including one who put in a purchase offer.
Jepsen said he couldn’t identify the potential buyers, due to their wishes for confidentiality. He did say those interested are from the area.
“I don’t have any idea what they want to use it for. They haven’t disclosed that,” said Jepsen. “All I know is that they want to get into that building as quickly as possible.”
After having a drug store for more than 80 years, Naples lost its only pharmacy when the store was shuttered last Wednesday.
Henderson’s bought the store through an agreement with Elmira-based RT Max development Co. in 2005.
After trying to sell the Naples Pharmacy to an independent pharmacy, including Quinlan’s Pharmacy & Medical Supply in Wayland, Jepsen sold the prescription files to CVS, which imposed a non-compete clause. That clause prevents the site from being reopened as a drug store or store selling health and beauty aids for one year.
J
epsen, who has been selling off most of his stores due to illness, said CVS would not agree to buy the files without the restriction.
Henderson’s Drug Store Inc. sold the Montour Pharmacy business in Montour Falls to CVS in December.
Jepsen has said the Henderson’s Drug Stores in Penn Yan and Geneva will not be impacted by the sales of the other stores.
Investment in Rushville
Despite widespread, negative pressures, Gignac said, people respond powerfully to the personal approach of a family pharmacy.
Gignac’s store in Brighton, Monroe Ave Pharmacy, is near a CVS and the Pittsford Wegmans. Even so, he said, he maintains a strong customer base because people like the easy access to his small store and the personal, ongoing relationship with their pharmacist.
His son, Dana, owns Saratoga Pharmacy on Lyell Avenue in the city of Rochester.
When Ray discovered Rushville, a rural community that is also home to Rushville Health Center and doctors’ offices at Valley View Family Practice — yet no drug store — he said he saw an opportunity.
Along with renovating about 1,700 square feet of the first floor for a drug store, Ray said he will have an apartment upstairs, which he plans to use as a second home.
“We are very happy,” said Rushville Mayor Jon Bagley. A drug store for Rushville is good news for his village and the surrounding community as well, he said.
Good for business
Kathy Rilands owns the Lunch Box Restaurant at 4 N. Main St., next door to the drug store.
“A lot of people are talking about it,” she said — and since the Naples Pharmacy closed, the buzz is growing. “Especially in this economy,” she said, Rushville getting a drug store is very exciting.
Rilands’ restaurant business has dropped off in recent years with the recession, she said. For a lot of folks, pinching pennies has even meant giving up small pleasures like buying coffee and a doughnut.
So the new drug store brings hope as well as convenience, with the anticipated new hub downtown.
“We are thinking it will draw people in,” she said.
