As of Thursday, Clatsop County will be down to one independently owned pharmacy, as Safeway recently purchased Astoria Pharmacy’s accounts. Paramount Drug Co. stands alone as the only independently owned pharmacy left on the North Coast.

“As an independent, it’s no longer profitable,” said Steve Choate, who’s owned Astoria Pharmacy for five years and worked there for 15. “Our reimbursement is so poor from insurance companies, we can no longer provide. I had no choice, basically.

“I signed a noncompete clause to not provide any pharmacy out of that building.”

Choate, who will retain ownership of the building and has other commercial property, said he’s unsure what he’ll do next.

“Maybe I’ll make them into coffee shops.”

Astoria, formerly the home of Steinbock’s Pharmacy, Owl Drugs and Family Pharmacy, is now down to Safeway and Paramount Drug Co., which has seen a noticeable uptick in business since the news.

“My business has been good,” said Ed Treharne, who has worked in the pharmacy at Paramount Drug Co. since 1979. “It’s been vibrant. All it takes is a young person who wants to work, and it’s a lifetime job. All you have to do is show up to work, and everything takes care of itself.”

He said that so many people have been coming in recently that he’s having to turn some of them away. He’s already working long hours and thinking of looking for that young person who will help the pharmacy in the long term.

“There are a lot of people in Astoria who want to stay in Astoria,” said Treharne. They’re proud of their independence. It’s nice to see the little guys able to survive.”

Dan Floyd, a spokesman for Safeway, said that customers of Astoria Pharmacy will be able to transfer their accounts over to Safeway.

Astoria Pharmacy joins a growing list of local, independent pharmacies on the Coast that are shutting down because of economic constraints.

About a year ago, Holladay Drugs also closed, its pharmacy accounts sold to Safeway.

Seaside once had three independent pharmacies, including Holladay Drugs, Kerwin Rexall Pharmacy and Legg’s Pharmacy. Seaside’s prescription services are handled by Safeway and Rite Aid. Warrenton has pharmacies at Fred Meyer, Walgreens, Rite Aid and Costco.

“There is no future as far as I see in the next five years” for family owned pharmacies, said Choate. “The fact of the matter is that unless you’re in a small community or a small market, it (closure) is inevitable.”

Choate said insurance benefit managers have no incentive to create decent reimbursements for smaller pharmacists, and bigger, more diversified stores can swallow the loss and make their money off of groceries.

Success story on the Long Beach Peninsula

Across the Columbia River on the Long Beach (Wash.) Peninsula thrives a small, locally owned chain of pharmacies operating from Ilwaco, Wash., to Ocean Park, Wash. Tom Sutherland, a pharmacist, and his wife Garnette Sutherland, a veteran of the medical industry, bought a half stake in Peninsula Pharmacies, which has operated on the peninsula for more than 40 years, in 1997. Pharmacists Jeff and Casey Harrell from Ilwaco, Wash., bought into the other half in 2006.

The couples started with three Washington locations in Ilwaco, Long Beach and Ocean Park. In 2008, they bought Sagen’s Pharmacy in Raymond, Wash. Most recently, they bought Martin’s Southgate Drug in Tumwater, Wash., near Olympia.

“I’m originally from the Peninsula,” said Jeff Harrell. “We moved from Seattle to the Peninsula to have the chance to own.

“I’m a big supporter of independent pharmacies. There’s a lot of pharmacies that haven’t done what they needed to do to be successful.”

Harrell said diversifying the business is one key to surviving. Peninsula Pharmacies operates a compounding lab in Long Beach that makes pills more palatable.

“We have a diabetics center, walkers and other durable equipment,” added Harrell. “We’re preparing for baby boomers in the future.”

The pharmacy group is injecting youth into the operation. Harrell said they brought in a new pharmacist, two years out of University of Washington, in their new Tumwater location, made him a junior partner and are looking forward to him operating the pharmacy for the long term.

They have another pharmacist on staff from Oregon State University who is interested in doing the same thing south of the Columbia River. Harrell said the diversification of Peninsula Pharmacies often comes from the ideas he and colleagues bring back from National Community Pharmacists Association conferences.

“The future of independent pharmacy, I think, is going to grow,” said Harrell.