In 2023, about one unbiased pharmacy closed every single day, and comparable numbers are anticipated for this 12 months based on the Nationwide Group Pharmacists Affiliation.
A family-owned pharmacy that has been the cornerstone of a San Francisco group for greater than 100 years is closing up store on Tuesday.
Jerry Tonelli, the proprietor of Central Drug Retailer within the Excelsior District, posted on Fb final month that he was retiring after fortunately serving because the neighborhood pharmacist for 50 years. The store’s final day after its historic run was deliberate for July 15, based on the submit.
The Tonelli household has been serving the group since taking on the enterprise in 1965. Nevertheless, the institution’s roots within the space run a lot deeper, courting again to the early 1900s.
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“We are a small, but mighty, pharmacy. And we are proud to say that we have outlasted Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and mail order services. I am pleased to say this is my choice and I am leaving on my own terms,” Tonelli mentioned within the discover posted on the shop’s Fb web page. “It is time for all of us to start a new phase in our lives and spend more time with our families.”
The household continued saying that the drug retailer would not exist if not for its prospects, who had stood by the household after they took over the enterprise.
Pharmacist and Central Drug Retailer proprietor Jerry Tonelli stands for a portrait among the many aisles of Central Drug Retailer in San Francisco, California on June 25, 2025. (Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle through Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
The announcement was met with an outpouring of assist from prospects who expressed how essential the enterprise had been to the group.
“I can’t tell you how many lives you have impacted,” one buyer commented.
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One other mentioned: “I can’t put into words what a blessing Central Drug, Jerry and the Tonelli family have been to me and my family for over 50 years.”
One buyer posted: “I was so sad to hear that you were leaving after all these years of your hard work and dedication to all your customers, there will not be another pharmacist or drugstore like yours.”
For the Tonelli household, the pharmacy was greater than only a enterprise. His mother and father met on the retailer, Tonelli instructed CBS.
The outside of Central Drug Retailer in San Francisco, California on June 25, 2025. (Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle through Getty Pictures) / Getty Pictures)
Tonelli took over the enterprise in his 30s after his father died. Nevertheless, his mother labored within the store up till she was 96 years outdated, based on the outlet.
Unbiased pharmacists have been grappling with a myriad of monetary and operational pressures, which many blame on pharmacy profit managers. PBMs act as intermediaries between insurers, drug producers and pharmacies, negotiating drug costs and reimbursement charges. PBMS are sometimes tied to bigger retail chains.
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PBMs contend that they negotiate drug costs to decrease prices for customers and embody unbiased pharmacies of their networks, generally reimbursing them at greater charges than retail chains. However unbiased pharmacists have beforehand instructed FOX Enterprise that it is threatening their enterprise fashions, as they scale back reimbursement charges for drugs, making it troublesome to cowl operational prices.
Classic pharmacy drawers line the partitions of Central Drug Retailer in San Francisco, California Wednesday, June 25, 2025. ( Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle through Getty Pictures) / Getty Pictures)
Tonelli made it clear his store withstood the pressures of the pharmacy behemoths and that he was retiring on his “own terms.” However whereas Tonelli’s enterprise was in a position to survive the tumultuous atmosphere within the business, he’s nonetheless apprehensive that different unbiased pharmacies will proceed to get compelled out by companies.
“The city started letting Walgreens come into the city, and what happened then was they usually opened up next to the independent, and eventually the independent had to close,” Tonelli instructed CBS.
