SURPRISING STUFF

Another local pharmacy is gone.
If you are old enough, you will remember when the local pharmacy was an interesting, fun, and educational place to go, not to mention that they all had ice cream cones and a full fountain set up.  What do we have today?  Walgreens and CVS are places that are about as interesting as toothpaste or shaving cream.  No nice pharmacist, just non-entity people in medical outfits with absolutely no personality.  A.I. creatures, one and all.  Locals no longer have a locally owned option to fill their prescriptions.

Elkhorn Pharmacy closed without warning on Thursday after Walgreens purchased it. Customers hoping to pick up their medication at Elkhorn Pharmacy on Thursday morning instead found the doors locked and signs redirecting them to the Elkhorn Walgreens. The drug store did not make any announcement on social media or elsewhere to inform its customers of the change. Most people used the Elkhorn Pharmacy to avoid Walgreens or Walmart specifically. The sudden sale and closure of Elkhorn Pharmacy on Thursday left East Troy Pharmacy as the last local drug store standing in Walworth County.

East Troy pharmacist Keith Witt believes there’s one big reason why small drug stores are closing. The major challenge he’s facing is dealing with pharmacy benefit managers, who set the drug prices from the manufacturer to pharmacies. He says the rates they set for smaller pharmacies often cost them money. They might be getting a lot busier now that the Elkhorn Pharmacy is closed. Despite the economic challenges, Witt said he has no plans to close and leave Walworth County without a local drug store.

Person of the Week

Tammy is a wonderful woman and employee at Lake Geneva’s Bottle Shop.