Cornered Drugstores
Family-run Zweber Pharmacy, a fixture in Corona del Mar for decades, will close this month, another casualty of the changing health care landscape.
Drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp. has purchased the pharmacy but will shut it down and open a splashy new outlet one block away.
While locals bemoan the loss of the dowdy but well-loved Zweber Pharmacy, Rite Aid has cushioned the blow by hiring both Bob Zweber and his son Stephen, a pharmacy technician who used to deliver prescriptions around town on his bike.
“I hate to see the Zwebers go,” said Luvena Hayton, another downtown merchant. “I probably will trade with [Rite Aid] because of Bob. Otherwise, we would all be furious.”
With large chains devouring smaller businesses nationwide, the tiny Zweber Pharmacy is barely an hors d’oeuvre for Rite Aid, which in 1996 bought the 1,007-store West Coast Thrifty PayLess Inc. chain.
Facing new business realities, hundreds of small pharmacies are closing each year. Indeed, the Zwebers lost many customers because the pharmacy rejected most managed-care prescription plans.
“Reimbursement from the insurance companies was so low,” Sharon Zweber said. “Sometimes he couldn’t even break even on a prescription.”
Still, the Zwebers did “a lot of soul-searching” before agreeing to sell, she said. “We thought we’d try to stick it out, but it just turned out [Rite Aid was] too close. “
Independent pharmacists say their problems are many and varied. Many managed care plans won’t allow them to join, they say, and some plans that will take them provide meager reimbursements. In addition, these small business owners say they must often pay more for drugs than do large HMOs or mail order networks.
“It’s killing us,” said Gary Dreyfus, who has operated Moulton Plaza Pharmacy in Laguna Hills for 22 years. Dreyfus said Rite Aid plans to open a store half a mile from his business and offered to buy him out.
“I said no to them, but it’s going to be hard because they have the ammunition it takes to get a business going,” Dreyfus said. “And they will take from me in the process.”
Clearly, the number of family pharmacists is dwindling nationwide.
In 1990, there were about 33,000 independent pharmacies in the United States, said Joseph C. Ronning, an analyst with Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. That number has since shrunk to about 21,000, he said.
While many lament the disappearance of corner drugstores, some say the changes in health care bring benefits to the public, such as lower prescription prices.
“I think, in many cases, it’s very good news for the consumer,” said Ben Singer, a spokesman for PacifiCare Health Systems, an HMO.
Meanwhile, independent pharmacists say they are taking a variety of steps to try to survive. Some, for example, have expanded their merchandise to include more gifts, home accessories and even clothing.
Dreyfus has buttressed his business with over-the-counter medications and home medical supplies. “We can still survive off those two areas,” he said, “but it’s very difficult to survive in the prescription department.”
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Pharmacist Bob Boragno, who owns MediRx, the other downtown Corona del Mar pharmacy, said Rite Aid offered to buy him out, but he refused. Boragno, who also owns Parkview Pharmacy in Irvine and Monarch Bay Pharmacy in Dana Point, said he also has expanded the retail merchandise he offers in his stores.
And unlike the Zwebers, Boragno accepts most insurance-plan prescriptions.
The managed care trend has clearly rankled Bob Zweber, 57, whose customers largely paid out of their own pockets. But Zweber admits that the big chains are now in a better position to survive.
“We can’t last as long as they can,” he said.
Still, the little pharmacy on the corner of Marguerite Avenue and East Coast Highway lasted quite a while. It even predates the Zwebers.
The building itself was built in 1944, Sharon Zweber said. It has been occupied by several pharmacists over the years.
Sheila Bushard, who owns Bushard’s Pharmacy in Laguna Beach, said her parents rented the building in Corona del Mar in 1957. To make it cozy for the customers, Bushard said, her parents put up wallpaper and installed a fireplace. Later, her uncle, who was also a pharmacist, took over.
Luvena Hayton remembers those early days, noting that the pharmacy had a soda fountain then.
“My husband and son would get an ice-cream cone and sit on a corner and count cars,” she said. “You can’t count cars now.”
The Zwebers moved to Corona del Mar in late 1971 and bought Bushard’s Pharmacy in January 1972. Initially, Sharon Zweber stayed home to care for their three children--Stephen, Timothy and Michelle. Once they were in school, she began working in the store, keeping the books, buying cosmetics and helping customers. As the youngsters grew up, they pitched in.
“They had free delivery,” remembers Jean Murray, a longtime resident who frequented Zweber Pharmacy until signing on with a health maintenance organization about 11 years ago when she retired.
At Christmastime, Zweber Pharmacy was papered with greeting cards from well-wishers, Murray said.
“I couldn’t believe so many people who lived in Corona del Mar would send Christmas cards to their druggist,” she said. “I think that shows the friendliness and feelings the people in the area had for the family.”
Customers confided in Bob Zweber about their health problems, Sharon Zweber said.
“Some of the customers are almost like family to us,” she said. “They don’t feel bad about asking him about something for constipation, or stomach problems, and he knows their profile.”
Meanwhile, merchants counted on the pharmacist to erect American flags in the downtown area on special occasions and to store them in his drugstore after the event, said Royal Radtke, executive director of the community’s Chamber of Commerce.
“It sounds like a small thing,” he said, “but over the years . . . Mr. Zweber has saved us a heck of a lot in storage rent.”
Rite Aid’s new pharmacy, which features 9,200 square feet of space, will occupy a former bank building down the street. Not everyone has been thrilled at the new store and its bright blue trim. “I’ve had complaints from several residents that they didn’t like the awnings and the lighting,” Radtke said.
But Rite Aid, which is scheduled to open Monday, will offer a variety of services, including a drive-up window where customers can pick up prescriptions, a consultation window where customers can talk with the pharmacist and “the famous Thrifty Ice Cream dipping station,” said spokeswoman Sarah Datz.
Since Rite Aid sells a wide selection of products, other merchants in the area are wondering just how long a shadow the bulky new neighbor will cast. The store will compete with other businesses, from beauty supply shops to film developing outlets.
“We welcome them, but we’re just a little concerned as to how it’s going to affect some of our small merchants that sell the same products,” Radtke said. “I guess only time will tell.”
Meanwhile, the Zwebers are preparing for the future.
As her husband and son get set to join Rite Aid, Sharon Zweber, 57, said she will retire.
“We’ve been really lucky, there’s some awfully neat people we’ve dealt with all these years,” she said. “And two blocks from the beach. What more can you ask for?”
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More Stores
The closure of Zweber Pharmacy is another point along the continuing trend of disappearing family-owned drug stores. However, the total number of drug stores in Orange County has increased about 8.5% in five years:
1992: 423
1993: 436
1994: 448
1995: 434
1996: 463
1997: 459*
* Preliminary
Source: California State Board of Equalization
