FARMINGTON – A new pharmacy has opened its doors in the Mt. Blue Shopping Center, with its manager hoping to model the experience after the former Howard’s Rexall Drug store.
Mt. Blue Drug Store had a quiet, “soft” opening Thursday in preparation for today’s bigger roll out, according to pharmacist Jason Pratt. The new store is being opened by Kevin Holland, owner and proprietor of Variety Drug in Skowhegan. It’s opening in the former Movie Gallery store, after more than two months of renovations.
Pratt, who lives in Farmington and received his undergraduate degree at University of Maine at Farmington, said he was excited to be operating the expansion of Variety Drug. Having previously worked at Howard’s Rexall, a former independent pharmacy and store located in what is now Tranten’s Grocery on Main Street in Farmington, as well as a larger, chain pharmacy, Pratt said he felt “very fortunate” to be able work at an independent in the town where he grew up.
“You get more of an opportunity to get out and meet people,” Pratt said. “I think people [in the Farmington area] miss that local option.”
Mt. Blue Drug is open 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. during the weekdays, and 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday. The store is now offering 50 percent off gift cards and wrapping paper.
I wish you good luck.
It’s nice to see a new business opening up, esp. one that strives for the kind of customer experience that is getting harder to find as more chain stores move in…best of luck to you!
I wish you much success!!
Good luck to you… I was impressed right from the start to see you go into an already existing building rather then build a whole new one. It will be nice to have the “small town feel ” that you do not get with the big chain stores. Welcome to the neighborhood.
Just what Farmington needs!
I wish you good luck…..You too TJ.!
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I wish him all the best and will transfer my prescriptions there. It will be such a joy to be able to pick up my medications without being asked my date of birth!
Does anyone have the telephone for Mt. Blue Drug? I’d LOVE to transfer my prescriptions there and support a local business instead of a national chain. :)
Best of luck and much success
The phone number is 778-5419
Licia, all pharmacy’s should ask you DOB or for some form of ID. Any who, welcome MT.Blue Drug!
If people knew why they were being asked their DOb they might not mind so much. Good Luck love to see local business.
You won’t find a better pharmacy around Two Thumbs Up all the way
Kevin and Sue – great to see you back in Mt. Blue Shopping Center.
Wilton, I don’t know who told you that all pharmacies should ask for identification, but think about it again. First of all, when a patient gives his or her name, and they have come to pick up a prescription (usually called in ahead), the likelihood that they are anyone else is far-fetched.
Second, I lived for many years in Pennsylvania, and no pharmacist there EVER asked for my date of birth. No pharmacist EVER gave my medications to the wrong customer, or gave someone else’s medications to me. This was in metropolitan Philadelphia where the population was much more dense than in Farmington, Maine. I don’t think it’s too much to hope that a pharmacist in this little town can recognize us by our names and faces when we appear to pick up a legitimate prescription.
Third, the date of birth isn’t much of an identifier. On any given date, millions of people were born; and if someone really wanted to fraudulently impersonate me, they could probably get my date of birth without much difficulty.
Fourth, some of the pharmacists at Hannaford got to know me, but they had to go through the motions of pretending they didn’t, in order to satisfy their bosses–i.e., the date-of-birth fetish has separated itself even from its purported rationale and has become a superstitious ritual or a power game.
God bless Jason Pratt for not subscribing to that superstition. And God bless Farmington. It really isn’t necessary to believe everything you are told, no matter how many times you are told it.
Now if only we could get a medical supply store back in the area!
Asking for a patient’s date of birth is a practice that gives the care giver, pharmacist, phlebotomist, etc. a 2nd identifier. This second identifier is necessary to make the Joint Comission happy. The Joint Comission formerly known as JCAHO has the power to not allow places to receive Medicare/ Medicaid (which ever is the federal one) payments. So it a simple question of your date of birth insures reimbursement you can bet that your DOB will continue to be asked. And really, what is the big deal? It is done to ensure YOUR safety. How angry would you be if you went home with the wrong prescription. The reason you weren’t asked for your DOB in Philly is probably because the time frame in which you were there was before this Joint Commission reccomendation and HIPPA were in place.
Asking for a patient’s DOB IS important. Several years ago, my daughter had her medication (for anxiety) called in to a national chain pharmacy in town. The classification of this medication is one that deems it ‘potential for abuse, can be habit-forming’. I went to purchase the medication and was told it was already picked up. Neither my husband, I, nor our daughter (a minor with no driver’s license) purchased the medication. It was given to SOMEONE ELSE! Why? It happened because the person didn’t have to supply their DOB and because it is a national chain they weren’t familiar with who we are.
It is my hope that Mt. Blue Drug does well so that this town can support a local business. And I HOPE they ask for my DOB!
He knows his way around a golf course too! Just kidding! Good luck Jason!
Congratulations now if insurance will pay the small, local pharmacies. I use to use Howard’s until my insurance demanded a chain store! Not much customer service @ Hannaford or Wal-Mart, thankful for the friendly folks at Rite-Aid. Can’t wait to stop in and give this new business some support.
Hope they will also be putting some fine Franklin County folks to work, as jobs are so far and few between.
Licia,
Is there anything you DON”T complain about? Just let people do their jobs and get on with life!
Good luck to the new drug store ~ I’ll be checking it out soon :)
My husband and I stopped in the other day to check it out……no question about it…we are changing immediately! We were welcomed like old friends. Everyone was so cordial and helpful. It was like going home.
TRY IT, YOU’LL LIKE IT!!
PS. And Paula…good to see you there!
The very best of luck!
Is there any possibility of a future drive through for prescription drop-off & pick-up?
Unfortunately, that is one thing that Rite-Aid has on your business as of right now. Just a suggestion.
I would love to support a local / non-chain store. The options are limited in this area.
Wish you well in these tough economic times.
I hope the new drug store DOES ask for my date of birth. I understand that it is for my safety and the safety of others. Licia, you need to lighten up and realize that times have changed.
Good luck! I think that you are very brave to open right across from Wal-mart. As to giving one’s DOB: I have never had to give out the year I was born, just the month and the day, when picking up meds.
I realize there probably aren’t a whole pile of Licia Kuennings hanging around Franklin County, so identity probably isn’t a big issue.
We, however, named our son after an uncle and a second cousin and there just happens to be another in the area with the same name. So, in total there are 4 in the area with the same name, one even has the same middle initial as our son, and they all get their prescriptions at the Farmington Wal-Mart!
I’ve never minded giving a birthdate to avoid my teenage son getting his great Uncle’s prostate medication or someone else’s heart pills.
I’ll stick with a place that positively identifies me and my medications, thanks.
I’m certain that the new pharmacy will do this, Licia, and if not, they will run into problems.
Welcome to Mt Blue Pharmacy!!! Best wishes for much success!!!
To Farm Town Girl,
There is a medical supply shop in East Wilton. Very nice people running it!!! It is in the same lot as Napa!!!
How do you go about transferring prescriptions from Rite Aid to this new pharmacy? I want to support the local business but I don’t even know how to start!
I believe you can just bring in your bottles with all your information and they can get it right from those. I would bring your insurance info if you have that too.
Good luck, Jason and well done.
Support local and the’ Made in America’ business’
Super awesome! I hope they do well, it’s a relief to see more independent businesses in Farmington.
Dear “Call me a Cynic”–I would rather call you by your real name. You are so eager to give your date of birth to a pharmacist, but you can’t even give your real name here! I choose to be accountable, and I think that helps me be a little more careful of my facts.
Then you write, “Asking for a patient’s date of birth is a practice that gives the care giver, pharmacist, phlebotomist, etc. a 2nd identifier.” I have heard all this stuff about a “2nd identifier.” But in most cases the fact that the customer shows up knowing there is a prescription waiting for him/her, and knowing what it is, and usually having called it in ahead of time, is itself a second identifier. Nobody else would know what prescription drugs were waiting for me.
“This second identifier is necessary to make the Joint Comission happy.” Does this Joint Commission stand over the druggist’s shoulder and prevent his having normal conversations with his customers? I hope not. (And I have seen their circular, and they don’t demand DOB, they only suggest it.)
“The Joint Comission formerly known as JCAHO has the power to not allow places to receive Medicare/ Medicaid (which ever is the federal one) payments. So it a simple question of your date of birth insures reimbursement you can bet that your DOB will continue to be asked.” I will take Jason Pratt’s word for it that it won’t.
“And really, what is the big deal? It is done to ensure YOUR safety.” No it isn’t. By your own statement, it is done to make the Joint Commission happy.
“How angry would you be if you went home with the wrong prescription.” I wouldn’t–because I always examine the prescription drugs I get at the pharmacy before I leave the store. If I forgot to do that I would be more angry with myself than with the pharmacist. Pharmacists can make mistakes like anybody else. The last time a pharmacist gave me the wrong pills (many years ago) my DOB wouldn’t have made the slightest difference.
“The reason you weren’t asked for your DOB in Philly is probably because the time fame in which you were there was before this Joint Commission reccomendation and HIPPA were in place.” So it was safe several years ago for me to pick up my prescriptions in Philly, but now it isn’t safe for me to pick them up in Farmington without giving my DOB?” Get real. They never loused up in Philly. You’re confusing institutional rules with real life–and once again, the JC doesn’t insist on DOB, only that one make sure one has the right person.
I’d go back to Philly.
Licia,
If you are so upset on how we do things here in Maine ~ and obviously you are ~ maybe it is time for you to go back to Philly? None of us can change this simple request of giving our birthdates when we pick up our medicines ~ so why are you wasting so much time complaining about it?
Licia,
Which is more convenient and faster? Simply giving your DOB by mouth or having to go thru your purse to drag out some form of idenification ie; driver’s license, copy of your birth certificate or maybe, even your passport? (some places require two forms of identification)
Not every body in town knows you by sight…..sorry, that’s just a fact of life. If that inconveniences you, SORRY.
Being a former Howard’s girl, this makes me SO happy! Congrats Jason! It’s not Belgrade, but it’s close! :) Will have to stop by and check it out next time we make it to Maine.
I have just had a fantastic experience using Mt Blue Pharmacy— I needed a script called in by my MD, and I called Mt.Blue to get their numbers for the doc— they were so nice on the phone, took all my info down so when the script faxed in they would have everything ready to go. I also asked them how long it typically takes to get a perscription filled (being accustomed to waiting around FOREVER at other pharmacies;-( They said they can fill very fast
I’m very impressed by the customer service and the speedy-ness on my first experience with Mt.Blue
Highly Recommend!
Mt. Blue Drug’s telephone number is: (207) 778-6015