Bad economy strikes close to home
Today, Sweety and I had lunch together and went to run an errand afterward. "Let's go to Elephant Pharm," I said. "We need diapers."
Elephant Pharm is a locally owned pharmacy chain. It's an extremely cool place; clean and friendly, with organic choices in everything from food to baby lotion to feminine hygiene and beyond. Conveniently, it's right next to Trader Joe's. This is great because Elephant Pharm has all the stuff Trader Joe's lacks. Often, I have to schedule a Trader Joe's trip in tandem with another grocery trip, because they never have diapers or zippered plastic bags or unscented hand lotion.
Make that was and had. When we got there, we found a store that looked like it hadn't opened yet. No lights on, everything still in place on the shelves. A man in sunglasses stopped us, as if blocking the door. "Elephant Pharm is closed," he told us. "Your prescriptions have been moved to Long's." He didn't move, just handed us a flyer and stood there talking. He seemed very East Coast to me somehow, and not in the ways I like. Sweety said later that he thought the man was trying to block us from reading the sign on the door.
Sure enough, the sign said that all Elephant Pharm store closed yesterday, "with a heavy heart" and probably forever. Knowing Long's was recently acquired by CVS, I asked the man what happened to the Long's employees who used to work Long's corporate headquarters in Northern California. "They were given generous severance packages," he said.
I found this entire exchange very troubling. Long's used to be a locally owned chain, before CVS bought them and rendered many locals jobless. Elephant Pharm was local, too. I'm all for global culture, but walking into a CVS just like the one in Sweety's New Jersey hometown holds little appeal.
Until recently I gave most of my business to a national chain pharmacy simply because it was more convenient. It seemed good to save the gas. But a few weeks ago, I decided that I couldn't afford to have more jobs leave our community. I also decided to stop ordering from Diapers.com, even though it would cost a few dimes more per pack to buy them at Elephant Pharm. I wanted to keep the last local pharmacy in business.
It seems my change was too little, too late.
Elephant Pharm is a locally owned pharmacy chain. It's an extremely cool place; clean and friendly, with organic choices in everything from food to baby lotion to feminine hygiene and beyond. Conveniently, it's right next to Trader Joe's. This is great because Elephant Pharm has all the stuff Trader Joe's lacks. Often, I have to schedule a Trader Joe's trip in tandem with another grocery trip, because they never have diapers or zippered plastic bags or unscented hand lotion.
Make that was and had. When we got there, we found a store that looked like it hadn't opened yet. No lights on, everything still in place on the shelves. A man in sunglasses stopped us, as if blocking the door. "Elephant Pharm is closed," he told us. "Your prescriptions have been moved to Long's." He didn't move, just handed us a flyer and stood there talking. He seemed very East Coast to me somehow, and not in the ways I like. Sweety said later that he thought the man was trying to block us from reading the sign on the door.
Sure enough, the sign said that all Elephant Pharm store closed yesterday, "with a heavy heart" and probably forever. Knowing Long's was recently acquired by CVS, I asked the man what happened to the Long's employees who used to work Long's corporate headquarters in Northern California. "They were given generous severance packages," he said.
I found this entire exchange very troubling. Long's used to be a locally owned chain, before CVS bought them and rendered many locals jobless. Elephant Pharm was local, too. I'm all for global culture, but walking into a CVS just like the one in Sweety's New Jersey hometown holds little appeal.
Until recently I gave most of my business to a national chain pharmacy simply because it was more convenient. It seemed good to save the gas. But a few weeks ago, I decided that I couldn't afford to have more jobs leave our community. I also decided to stop ordering from Diapers.com, even though it would cost a few dimes more per pack to buy them at Elephant Pharm. I wanted to keep the last local pharmacy in business.
It seems my change was too little, too late.