December 4, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mt. Airy pharmacy is last area independent
by JOEL HOFFMANN

Lynne Berkowitz found no reason to rejoice when Reese Pharmacy in Chestnut Hill went out of business.

Over the past 35 years, Berkowitz, owner of Cooperman’s Pharmacy at Germantown and Mt. Pleasant avenues in Mt. Airy, has seen independent pharmacies steadily disappear from Northwest Philadelphia, allowing chain stores like CVS and Rite Aid to dominate the region.

At least 20 independents have bowed out of Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy alone since 1973, according to Berkowitz, and when the CVS at 7700 Germantown Ave. acquired Reese’s inventory and prescription base on Nov. 17, Berkowitz began to lament the end of the independent era.

“Reese was the last one left besides us,” she said.

Still, Berkowitz believes that independent pharmacies serve their communities in ways that chain stores cannot.

“I can tell you the name of the patients when they walk in,” Berkowitz said, adding that a personalized relationship with customers is important because pharmacists sometimes have to become advocates for them.

“If a person brings a prescription in, and I happen to know something about them that maybe their doctor doesn’t,” she explained, “I can immediately call the doctor and make them aware of the situation. If somebody isn’t coming in for their prescriptions, if an older person is not coming in, I can alert their family to the fact that they’re not taking their medication.”

Berkowitz also contacts those patients directly to find out why they haven’t filled their prescription. At the root of all of this is a commitment to the customer’s well being, according to Berkowitz. Sometimes tough love is the only way to go.

“I yell at my patients if they’re not taking their medications when they’re supposed to,” she said. “Chains won’t do that.”

Berkowitz concedes that making money is essential to the survival of Cooperman’s, especially in times of widespread economic distress, but it’s clear that she and her 10 employees see customers as more than a revenue stream.

Because her employees have all been with the store for more than three years, they have developed a longstanding relationship with the customer base, Berkowitz said.

 “Our employees know our patients,” she said. “Our delivery people know our patients.”

And that relationship isn’t limited to prescriptions.

“If someone’s a shut-in and they know their granddaughter’s having a birthday, we’ll go pick out a birthday card for them,” she said.

If they say, “’Gee, I have a cough,’” she added, “I’ll take a look at their profile and see what kind of medications they can take. If they’re diabetic I give them the sugar-free.”

Berkowitz admits that independents can’t compete with chain stores in terms of hours. (Cooperman’s is not open on weekends and closes at 6 p.m. on weekdays, but it will open outside its posted hours in case of an emergency.) But independents can compete when it comes to prescription prices and the time it takes to process a script, she said.

“When you walk in to get a prescription here, it’s filled within five or seven minutes,” she said. “You don’t have to wait.”

Although Berkowitz welcomes former Reese’s customers to bring their scripts to Cooperman’s, she wishes that Reese’s could have weathered the storm. She misses the days when the independents “were all doing business and everything was good.”