Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Mark’s Pharmacy, which operates two locations in the western North Carolina region, may open a location in Bryson City.
The news comes after Bryson City Pharmacy was bought out by Walgreens in December, making Walgreens the only pharmacy in town.
“Swain is in need of competition,” Mark’s Pharmacy owner Mark Adam said. “If you don’t have competition, you’re forced to pay what they ask you to pay.”
Adam held a meeting with the local chapter of the Democratic Party on Thursday night, Feb. 8, with some concerned locals attending, along with Adam’s son Faisal Adam and Christy Kirkpatrick, a partner who co-owns the Waynesville branch of Mark’s Pharmacy.
At a previous Town Hall meeting, some former Bryson City Pharmacy customers expressed dissatisfaction with the switch to Walgreens. Concerns included long wait times, higher costs for some medications and not taking their insurance.
Swain County Democratic Party Chair Garrett Lagan said several people he’d spoken to are now going to pharmacies located in Cherokee or Andrews for their pharmaceutical needs.
“It’s a hardship for Swain County,” he said.
For about an hour and a half on Thursday evening, Adam, Kirkpatrick and several concerned residents went over the ideas they had about moving forward with servicing the area.
“We’ve been to town several times,” Adam said. “We’re looking for real estate, property that could suffice for what we needed to do.”
Adam and Lagan discussed the possibility of Mark’s trying to move into the location where the old Bryson City Pharmacy was, on Highway 19, though they weren’t sure if that would happen as of Thursday.
The later part of the discussion saw Kirkpatrick and Adam explaining how smaller pharmacies have a harder time dealing with drug pricing issues as compared to big chains. Adam said the smaller pharmacies are a “dying breed.” But he said he wants to look into opening a store in Swain if he can find a location.
“More and more stores are closing just because of what we have to go through,” he said. “To come into this town and open a drug store is not an easy decision. I’d love to do it, if it pans out. But there’s a lot of things that we have to figure out, if it’s going to be viable.”
Some residents expressed frustration about the way Walgreens had essentially positioned itself as the default pharmacy option in Bryson City.
“The community doesn’t understand you have options,” said local resident Leila Tvedt. “How could we? Many people don’t have a clue.”
Upon a push from community members after the buyout of Bryson City Pharmacy, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein’s office opened an investigation into whether Walgreens buying out Bryson City Pharmacy constituted a monopoly. There was no update on a decision as of press time.
Asked how Walgreens was handling the increase in volume and the unhappy customers, spokesperson Samantha Stansberry said in January that they were working “to improve the customer experience at this location.”
“We've added team members from the previous ownership and are investing in new equipment that will enable a better experience for our patients and customers and we are always willing to listen to their concerns and suggestions,” she wrote. “We are installing two workstations that will allow the team to better support the fulfillment process.”
In December after Bryson City Pharmacy closed, owner Michael Spinn said he had been losing money due to the way the pharmacy was being reimbursed by insurance companies for prescriptions they’d filled. Because of the higher costs, Spinn said he decided to take the deal Walgreens presented him to buy him out of business.