Longtime owner shuts Medicine Cabinet
After 30 years of filling more prescriptions than he can count, Allen Partridge has closed up shop at The Medicine Cabinet in Martinez.
Neil W. Grice and Katie Bentley, of Martinez Apothecary, fill orders. Now that The Medicine Cabinet has closed, the Apothecary is one of only three independent pharmacies in the county.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
The Columbia Road business closed its doors last month. Partridge said the decision was a personal one.
"The cost of doing business for an independent pharmacist is astronomical," said Partridge, who owned and operated the pharmacy.
"I didn't get the flu vaccine in this year, and that hurt a lot. Plus, I was surrounded by nine of the larger chains and could walk out my front door and throw a stone at three of them."
Partridge's former customers can have their prescriptions filled at any Walgreens drugstore.
"All of my customer files are at Walgreens and are accessible throughout the United States," Partridge said.
He now works at the 24-hour Walgreens pharmacy at Bobby Jones Expressway and Washington Road in Martinez.
Partridge said he intends to find a new occupant for the building that housed The Medicine Cabinet.
"The building is mine, and I'm looking for a long-term tenant," he said.
The closing of The Med-icine Cabinet leaves three independent pharmacies in the county: Medical Center West Pharmacy in Evans, Kay's Pharmacy in Harlem and The Martinez Apothocary housed in The Pharmacotherapy Center in the West Town Shopping Center.