Former Winderbread outlet
converted to drug store
By:Sally Goldenberg
Area residents now have a new option for their pharmaceutical endeavors Easy Pharmacy, a small, family-run operation, opened shop on Kennedy Boulevard on Friday morning.
Kiran Parvatrao, a 38-year-old pharmacist from Crowel Road in Hillsborough, purchased the vacant plot of land that formerly housed a Wonderbread outlet for approximately $250,000 a year ago.
"One day I saw the ad on the display saying it’s for sale," Mr. Parvatrao said. "I think we can make a good pharmacy here."
About 10 family members attended the grand opening, when Manville Borough Council President Theodore Petrock cut the store’s ribbon and greeted the new business owner. Dick McCurdy and John Gluch, representing the Manville Business and Professional Association, also attended the ceremony.
Immediately after the festive morning affair, the store which will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and closed on Sundays welcomed its first customer.
"I was just getting information on diabetic supplies," said Dolores Dyckman, a 62-year-old nurse who lives on Sunnymead Road in Hillsborough and passes the store several times a day.
Ms. Dyckman, a diabetic, said the local pharmacies she currently frequents provide inadequate customer service. She added that the supplies are often too expensive.
"If I could work something out, I probably would become a steady customer," she said of the neighborhood’s new pharmacy.Mr. Parvatrao, a pharmacist who most recently worked at Community Pharmacy in Newark and also has worked for drug manufacturer Schering-Plough, said his pharmacy can compete with its larger, corporate neighbors such as CVS on South Main Street, by providing a sense of community to its customers.
"It’s like an independent community pharmacy," he said. "I wanted to give it a twist community services. In community services, you have to spend a lot of time talking to customers."
He added that larger pharmacies often neglect customers’ individualized needs.
"Even though they are big, they can’t always give quality services to people," he said.
He pointed around the store to show its customized sections one for diabetes and another for asthma which are designed to fit special needs his customers will have, he said.To that end, he also established a display cabinet coined "Store and Community," in which he intends to post educational information and news in the world of medicine, he said.
To date, Mr. Parvatrao is the only full-time employee, accompanied by two part-timers. Within three months, he said he hopes to have a larger staff.