Business Profile: Yorktown Pharmacy
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
Raj Venkat has continued a long tradition in northern Westchester by owning the Yorktown Pharmacy for the past 11 years.
The store has been in business since 1930. It is a throwback to the locally owned drug stores that were common before CVS and other chains began to dominate the market.
Venkat purchased the store from longtime owner Robert Cecere, whose father originally opened it in 1930. Cecere continued to work part-time at the store even after he sold it. “He used to work Sunday until 2010 when he retired,” Venkat said last week.
Cecere donated a park to the town, which is located in front of the pharmacy.
Yorktown Pharmacy offers a wide range of products, including gift items, seasonal candy, newspapers and magazines, as well as health related items, such as cold and flu vitamins, and items for those with sports-related injuries, including Ace bandages and knee braces.
The store offers individualized service. For example, the staff will work with a customer to get the correct fitting for a knee brace, Venkat said. If the store does not have in stock a specific product sought by a customer, it will be ordered.
Personalized service has been a key to the success of the Yorktown Pharmacy, Venkat said. “People know us,” he said. Many of his customers have been patronizing the pharmacy long before he purchased it, Venkat noted.
“It’s long entrenched in the community,” he said.
Venkat is giving back to the community through his efforts made on behalf of the Yorktown Lions Club, which he has done for many years. The pharmacy is continuing its tradition of sponsoring the Club’s annual Halloween Celebration and Parade. This year’s event is scheduled for October 25 and the parade will begin at 2 from in front of Yorktown Pharmacy.
”We support the Club in any way we can,” Venkat said.
Venkat came to the United States in 1989 “for higher education opportunities” not available in his native land of India. He received a graduate degree to qualify him as pharmacist from Long Island University.
Yorktown Pharmacy is located at 1905 Commerce St. For more information call 914-962-2600.
