Independent Pharmacy Gives Main Street American Service
In the last independent pharmacy in Lexington, Massachusetts, the pharmacists know most customers by name.
“We know our customers by face rather quickly and by name soon after that,” said Chris Venier, 64, owner of Theatre Pharmacy in Lexington, MA.
“In this new era of chain pharmacies and mail order prescriptions, Theatre Pharmacy is still a place where personal service is a way of life. The sign in the window say it all ‘Traditional Service and Low Prices,’” Venier said.
This pharmacy is Main Street America where Ted Williams frequented the soda fountain or came in for a quart of vanilla ice cream.
Theatre is a family pharmacy. In 1935, Venier’s father, Ettore P. Venier, R. Ph. opened his own pharmacy when he couldn’t find a full time job. “Throughout the Depression years, the store prospered, even in competition with seven other pharmacies in town,” said Venier. “And we are the last one standing.”
After World War II many of Lexington’s young adults came back to their hometown to start families. They returned to Theatre Pharmacy with their own children and introduced the third generation of customers. Today many of those children are adults raising families in Lexington and returning to the pharmacy of their childhood.
The store has had three locations within the same block of Massachusetts Avenue. With each move it added floor space. In the second location, where the current stationary store is, Venier remembers the soda fountain of his youth. In 1952, at age of 12, he started working after school, wearing a white coat, scraping gum off the stools and serving up sodas. The store then represented its time with a tobacco counter, candy counter with jars of candy purchased by weight, and the pharmacy counter as well.
In 1962 Chris Venier graduated from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and went into business with his dad. Venier said he had the ideal situation with his dad at the helm until Chris turned 28, and in 1968 he took over the business.
“He was a tremendous mentor. He really believed in service and did a great job of teaching me. I was very lucky to get to work with him,” said Venier. The elder Venier worked part time with his son until he retired completely in 1975. Older customers might remember both father and son working together.
Now Theatre competes with two chain pharmacies in town: CVS and Walgreen’s.
(The retail industry main aspect includes small stores that sell products directly to consumers. Mike took over the lease of a building and wanted to transform it into a fully functional department store that offered a variety of products.)
Mr. Walgreen moved to Chicago in 1893, where he found at least 1,500 drug stores already competing for business. Mr. Walgreen was broke and threw a couple of pennies in the Chicago River and committed himself to his profession and a lifetime of perseverance and hard work. He did not want help from his family because he wanted to be successful on his own (Walgreen, n.d., p. 1).
Ron Johnson spent a great deal of time and money to promote his ideas of “stores-within-stores” by turning floor space into an area to house several branded boutiques. He did this in order to attract a target market of a wider demographic which includes age, gender, and generation. One of the m...
Theatres and How We Had Fun." Little, Brown, and Company. (Boston, Toronto, London); 1991. P. 139, 144.
Renak, Judith. “Tylenol made a hero of Johnson and Johnson: The recall that started them all,” The New York Times. March 22, 2002. Retrieved May 3, 2011 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/your-money/23iht-mjj_ed3_.html
For my on-line pharmacy I chose 1-800-PetMeds. After some research I have found exactly what you need to order medicines through them. I have also found their policy on things and what they will do if expectations are not reached. The first thing I notice is that you do not have to have an account with them to order stuff through them. You just pick a medicine and click on it, and then it will be added to your cart for you to continue shopping or for you to proceed to check out.
Imagine waking up in a strange room, all alone, being told that your choices… your decisions… your careless actions ended the life of an innocent human being. A grandmother, a grandfather, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter. Realizing a family will have once less person with them during Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other festivities because of a careless decision you could have changed. Would you be able to handle the guilt? Or what if the situation was switched around? You wake up in the middle of the night receiving a phone call that a loved one has passed away due to a drunk driver.
He started asking questions and becoming more and more interested by every moment. He loved how the founders had so much knowledge on the coffee and each blend. In 1982, Schultz became director of retail operations. This was just the start of a new phase with the company. When Shultz took over, this started the beginning of a new era.
A persons’ image is vital when meeting someone for the first time. Our peers, employers, family, superiors, even strangers that you walk past can automatically judge someone, and imagine how they present themselves to the world. Tattoos have been predominantly linked with a rebellious attitude and pictured on out of control stereotypes such as rock starts, bikers, sailors, and disobedient teenagers who want nothing more than to hack off their parents. With a new coming of age generation and a step into a more lenient and liberal society these types of patrons still participate in body art but so do doctors, lawyers, or just the run of the mill house mom. Tattoos signify religious beliefs, cultural influence, or each individual’s sole style. Body art is no longer socially offensive, employers are more apt to hiring tatted hopeful applicants, parents are warming up to the idea of their children inking their body and no longer a stranger on the street with a tattoo is necessarily prejudged as a criminal or safety hazard. Tattoos have become more evolved over the years because they have become more of a socially accepted element of the general public.
According to Dr. Robert Zebroski, a professor at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, King James I established Western society’s first independent pharmacist guild in England during the early 17th century. Pharmacies were known as “apothecaries” back then and they would prepare and dispense medication or remedies and offer medical advice to their patrons (Zebroski). Soon English colonists knew these apothecaries as pharmacist when they traveled to the New World approximately 150 years ago. Zebroski also noted, that Edward Parrish began the American Pharmaceutical Association and “proposed that members of the national professional organization consider all the varied pharmaceutical practitioners ‘pharmacists’ (Zebroski).” The federal government changed the role of pharmacy in 1951 with the passage of the Durham-Humphrey Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938. Basically, what this entailed was that pharmacists needed a physician’s prescription to dispense medication versus simply dispensing all drugs. Pharmacists were restricted to reco...
A mere mention of the term theatre acts as a relief to many people. It is in this place that a m...
For years, people’s definition of ‘sex’ and ‘virginity’ have changed continuously with the adaptation of new cultures, ideas, and identities. In the nineteenth century, virginity was sign of purity and innocence, as sex before marriage was seen as a sin. If he / she had sex before they were married, they were deemed unfit and ‘dirty’ in society. But this idea changed in the 1900’s, when people gained more sexual freedom. Sex was no longer limited, as both men and women began to have sexual relationships before they were married. Men now saw their virginity as a negative feature and sought to lose it early, while women still saw their virginity as something to be value and were not so eager to lose it early on in life. Compared to the past, the definition of ‘sex’ and ‘virginity’ today have become more
Nevertheless, the question at hand is whether theatre will have a role in the society of the future, where cinema, digital television, and computers will continue to expand and grow. The answer to this question is yes. Heading into the 21st century, theatre will only be a fraction in a solid media industry. However, despite all the excitement technology brings with it, they will never replace theatre because it has something that can not be recreated or offered anywhere else. The cinema and its larger than life world appeals as an affordable alternative. Digital television provides digital interaction between the viewer and the producer. Theatre on the other hand, and its contents may take on a larger dimension, but we receive it directly in flesh and blood – one to one. The magical atmosphere between an actor and spectator who are constantly aware of each other and the theatre’s level of engagement is fundamentally more human and far more intimate.
As I have grown up and experienced college, I have encountered numerous people and fellow students aspired to become engineers and doctors, all eager to become esteemed members of the community because of the status such careers bring. I, however, have always been drawn to the career path of pharmacy and becoming a contributing member of my community in that particular outlet. A pharmacy is in many ways a pillar of a community’s overall health and wellbeing as well as a valuable resource for medical and insurance related information. As a young person, I had always wondered what went on behind the high desks and cabinets in a pharmacy. I was always drawn and curious about the science and technology that was just behind those barriers that would ultimately bring good health to many patients every day. This is what peaked my interested in striving to
Pharmacist is the vital part of the healthcare team who provides prescription medications to individuals. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010-2011) Their responsibilities cover few essential areas.