Business Profile: Somers Pharmacy
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
Tuckahoe resident Howard Schoenberg said last week the pharmacy business can be brutal. He knows that from experience.
‘The big chains are just moving in and doing an unjust thing to the loyal independents that strive to really try and make it and succeed and serve the community the way it should be served,” Schoenberg said.
Schoenberg formerly owned a drug store in Somers decades ago but left his former location in town because of “some antics that were done by chains and landlords kind of pushed a reputable store out of their particular location.”
Undaunted, in 1980 Schoenberg opened the Somers Pharmacy on Route 202, across the street from the Elephant Hotel, with his partner, Tim Sullivan, who resides in Rockland County. The Boniello family, the store’s current landlord, “care about their tenants and cater to all their needs,” Schoenberg said.
“We’re a longtime independent pharmacy,” Schoenberg said. “We’re one of those loyal ones that are still left.”
Customer service and prices has been among the keys to the success of the Somers Pharmacy, Schoenberg said. The store staff has a “one on one” relationship with the patrons, he said, adding the staff members “try to comfort them if they have any problems.”
Although he is not a pharmacist, Schoenberg said he long has had a desire to be in the drug store business. “I always liked dealing with the public,” he said. “I’ve always felt a comfort to trying to help people.”
Aside from dispensing drugs, the store offers a wide range of other products, including surgical goods, over the counter medications, gift cards, health and beauty aids, gifts, vitamins and stationary.
Most of the store’s customers live in the Heritage Hills condominium complex and the surrounding areas of Somers, Katonah and North Salem, Schoenberg noted. The loyal patrons “patronize the store because they care about the little guy and the independent,” he said. “We do whatever we can to help them. We offer free delivery.”
Schoenberg described his business as an “old fashioned drug store that you would have found around 20 years ago and we’re still here and plan to stay here for a long time.”
Somers Pharmacy is located at 336 Route 202 in Somers in Bailey Court, across the street from the Elephant Hotel. For more information call 914-276-2121.
