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Last locally-owned pharmacy closing

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Derry Drugs is closing shop after 60 years in business. (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)
Derry Drugs is closing shop after 60 years in business. (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)

It’s official: a landmark Van Wert retail business is closing its doors next month after 60 years. Derry Drugs owner Paul Svabik confirmed this week that the pharmacy will be closing, effective December 17.

“After long consideration and doing our homework, we are in the process of turning over our files and business to CVS,” Svabik said, adding that Derry’s is attempting now to get information to its customers that they need do nothing to ensure that their prescriptions will be filled at CVS. “That’s our main focus, at this point.”

It was 1953 when Derry Drugs founder William S. Derry purchased the former Bower’s Drug Store at the corner of Main and Washington streets and named the new business Derry Drugs. The business moved to the corner of Main and Market streets six years later, where it stayed for more than 30 years: until Svabik and Mike Krugh purchased the business in the mid-1990s and moved the store to its current location on Westwood Drive.

Svabik said the closing of Derry Drugs is the end of a transition that began years ago. “When I came to Van Wert in 1985 there were nine pharmacies in Van Wert County,” Svabik said. “As we speak today, we are the last of the nine.”

He added that neither of his two biggest Van Wert competitors were here in 1985. Walmart didn’t come to the community until 1989-90, while what is now CVS was Revco back then, which CVS purchased after Revco filed for bankruptcy.

While competition has been increasing, Svabik stressed that there was no single reason that led to the decision to finally close Derry’s. “We’re not a sinking ship,” he said, noting that economic challenges, as well as the challenges of running any small business, factored into the decision.

Certainly, the playing field for small independent pharmacies isn’t what it used to be, with companies such as Derry’s competing against large corporations.

“I tell my friends, we’re not competing against our neighbors any more, we’re competing against CVS and Walmart, two multi-billion dollar corporations.”

Mail-order prescription businesses have also been an increasing problem for independent pharmacies, Svabik added.

“The mail order continues just to be a rampant progression,” he said. “It has hurt us and the small independent pharmacies.”

Considering the tough economic times, Svabik said he didn’t blame customers on a fixed income or without a job ordering prescriptions through the mail and online. He did note, though, that insurance companies owning mail-order pharmaceutical businesses and then requiring policyholders to purchase prescriptions by mail after a couple of refills has created an “unlevel” playing field for small local pharmacies like Derry’s.

In addition to moving patient files to CVS, Svabik said the current Derry Drugs building would be placed on the market at a later date.

Svabik said that, while he was a stranger when he came to Van Wert nearly 30 years ago, he plans to stay here after Derry’s closes. “My full intention is to stay in Van Wert County,” he said, noting that he is very much involved in the community, serving as a trustee for the Van Wert County Foundation and on the boards of local banking institutions.

Meanwhile, while the locally-owned pharmacy will soon be a thing of the past in Van Wert, Svabik said he hopes CVS will step up and take a more active role in the Van Wert community. “CVS has not done a whole lot for this community,” he said, adding that he has had talks with the company about making some changes in that area.

“That’s one thing they did have some interest in,” Svabik said, but added he was just “one small person” talking to a large corporation.

POSTED: 11/28/13 at 1:20 am. FILED UNDER: News