Leslie’s to close this month

The beloved, family-owned pharmacy is closing after decades of serving Islanders.

By
Eunki Seonwoo
-
41

Updated 3:49 pm

Customers were expressing their condolences and hugging Leslie’s Pharmacy employees on Monday morning, some wondering where they should get their prescriptions from now on. Several had tears in their eyes, thinking of how a piece of the Vineyard community was weeks away from vanishing. 

Leslie’s Pharmacy in Vineyard Haven announced “with a heavy heart” on Saturday that the last day the long-time pharmacy will be open is on Sept. 28.

“It’s a very difficult world to navigate as an Independent Pharmacy,” the post reads in part. “It’s not a lucrative business as many expect, except for the insurance companies and the drug companies. Independents suffer the most due to the financial instability of the healthcare climate with no corporate overhead for insurance underpayments. We tried our best to continue on, but the time has come for us to say goodbye. We can’t thank our customers and the island community enough for all the support over the years since we bought the business in 2003. Our family has truly enjoyed serving our community.”

The pharmacy will be filling the prescriptions with its remaining stock for the next two weeks, but no new orders will be placed. Additionally, Leslie’s will be helping its customers move their existing prescription refills to the pharmacy of their choice. 

Leslie’s Pharmacy almost shut its doors in 2020 from financial struggles — exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic — but it was able to stay open with the community’s support. That change came two months after the initial closing announcement.  

The financial struggles this time around, the owners said, were due to high costs from insurance companies, which were also blamed in 2020.

“Insurances don’t reimburse us like they should, so we lose money on most every prescription we fill,” David Holmberg, manager of Leslie’s Pharmacy, said in his office. “And the prices of drugs … It’s just not financially okay to keep going, so we had to make the decision. 

Nobody has stepped up to buy the pharmacy. 

Holmberg had worked at the pharmacy since he was 14. Now, he is looking for a new pharmacy for his prescriptions. 

“It’s a very strange feeling,” he said. “It’s a very odd feeling, but it’s kind of a relief that we don’t have to struggle with the financial problems, keep going, and trying to make it work.” 

Holmberg said shutting down the pharmacy’s operations will be done through October, although the business would already be closed. Next steps for the family remain uncertain. 

“We’re kind of figuring that out before we figure anything else out,” he said. 

Still, Holmberg said the pharmacy will be able to help customers switch pharmacies if needed until their license expires, which he expects will be after the first week of October. 

The pharmacy’s closing was a gut punch for many patrons who had been picking up their medication on Main Street and getting to know the family for years. 

“It’s very sad having to switch to another pharmacy,” Audrey Tilton, an Oak Bluffs resident who grew up in Vineyard Haven, told the Times at Leslie’s. Tilton had been coming to the pharmacy since she was a teenager and found out about the closing from a friend on Sunday. 

“Everybody’s bummed,” she said. 

“It’s sad,” Liz Wild, a Vineyard Haven resident, said. “I’ve been getting my prescription here for 40 years.” 

Over the decades, Wild got to know the Holmbergs running the pharmacy. “It’s almost like family,” she said. 

Many more Islanders poured out their appreciation for the pharmacy on social media. 

The pharmacy has been a fixture of Vineyard Haven’s Main Street for decades and is currently owned by Warren and Donna Holmberg, David’s parents, who bought it from pharmacist Leslie Leland. 

According to Linda Fandel, who has been Leslie’s Pharmacy’s bookkeeper since 1985, this is the last of three pharmacies that used to be on Main Street. She first came into Leslie’s when there was still a soda fountain at the drugstore. 

“It’s the end of an era of so many things,” she said. “It’s very sad.” 

Fandel said over the years, the previous and current owners of the pharmacy have become family to her. 

“When your business is owned by a family, you watch the dedication, you watch the commitment, you watch the hundred-percent, whole-soul effort putting into running a store,” she said. “It’s a lot, a lot of work for the people who own the store and this is their livelihood and it’s heartbreaking … the only thing I can hope is there’s more exciting things for them.”

Fandel told the Times that among the various bookkeeping jobs she currently has, she expected Leslie’s to last the longest since it was a business set up to serve people’s medical needs. It is the first of her clients to go. 

“It just goes to show how twisted the system is where we’re being pushed out because of higher powers that be,” she said, referring to medical insurers and big pharmaceutical companies. 

The business’ closing will also shutter the Island’s only retail contract pharmacy for MassHealth’s Health Safety Net, a government program that pays for a portion of some health services for qualified uninsured or underinsured individuals.

“It’s going to cause a large problem, I believe, because we took on a lot of the patients that only have Health Safety Net,” David Holmberg said. 

The Health Safety Net only covered prescriptions from Island Health Care in Edgartown per the contract, Holmberg said. This covers around 200 patients, according to Holmberg.

“It’s going to make a big … gap for medical healthcare,” Holmberg said. “If possible, they might be able to get it off-Island.” 

Cynthia Mitchell, CEO of Island Health Care, said her organization has reached out to patients and is working to find another pharmacy that can take on their Health Safety Net patients. She said the hope is another Vineyard pharmacy will take up the mantle, but Island Health Care is also looking at off-Island options. 

“We’ve got a team working on it now,” she said. “It’s an important program.”

Holmberg said he wasn’t sure whether another Vineyard pharmacy would be willing to enter into a contract with the state for Health Safety Net since their workload will already increase with the Leslie’s Pharmacy patients they’re taking on. Additionally, Leslie’s Pharmacy had to undergo an application process that took around a year to complete, Holmberg said. 

The closest pharmacies that are contracted for Health Safety Net are located in Falmouth. 

“That’s been bothering me since … I worked so hard to get it,” Holmberg said. Holmberg plans to see whether another Vineyard pharmacy would want to enter into a Health Safety Net contract, which he said he would help in the process for. 

Holmburg said deciding to close the shop was a difficult decision, and expressed appreciation for the Vineyard community who have supported them. 

“We’re going to miss everybody a lot, too,” David Holmburg said. “Some people think it’s for my father’s retirement, but it’s not. Financially, he’s not going to be able to retire. So, it’s not just a choice of wanting to close and leaving customers hanging. It was not an easy choice. We’re going to miss them. It’s going to be very strange.” 

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41 COMMENTS

  1. I read this with sadness, a terrible loss on Main St. They have treated us all like family and Leslie’s closing, well I don’t have any more words other than thank you so much for being an important part of my family’s health and well being and our community’s health and well being, YOU WILL BE MISSED

  3. The Lobbying from Big Pharma & Insurance & their PM’s are out to crush any & all small independent pharmacy businesses
    It’s criminal but since both State & local Congressmen allow it nothing can stop it.

  4. I don’t even live on the Island, but it is still depressing news. Another business that typified the Island is erased. “Take It Easy Baby.”

  5. We are truly saddened by the news that Leslie’s pharmacy is closing for good this time. We are at a loss for words to express our gratitude to the Pharmacy family at Leslie’s.
    Wesley and Sandy Mott

  7. I agree this is very sad. I’m not sure that this is the fault of the Affordable Care Act however. This has been a good thing for many people. The problem, I believe is with the big chain pharmacies and mail order pharmacies. Walgreens and CVS can afford to fill prescriptions at a much lower price than independent pharmacies. In addition their front businesses – cosmetics, over the counter products, even food, provide a huge source of revenue that the independents cannot match. Furthermore, one needs to rely on the SSA and go off Island to fill a prescription at one of these places. I realize that some people think that mail order is a convenient way to receive their prescriptions. But as a former pharmacist and teacher of pharmacists I see a number of problems with this. To begin with, the Post Office, despite its abundant skills is not set up to transport drugs that may require special handling – cool temperature, sterile conditions, etc. Sitting in one’s post office box for several days perhaps may not be tenable. In addition, if a medication is required in an emergency, CVS is not likely to be of help. We now have only two independent pharmacies on the Island in addition to Stop n Shop. As someone posted recently on Facebook, we must support our local pharmacies. If we do not, it may be too late.

  8. Leslie’s you will be greatly missed. Many of us will never forget the depth of your expertise and compassion.

    I’ll always remember being post surgical at MGH, when the nurse gave me the prescription I told her I was allergic to it. When she was unable to reach the hospital pharmacy I asked her to call Leslie’s and ask for Warren. Within two minutes she spoke with him and arranged for my husband to pick up my medication when our boat got in. That doesn’t happen elsewhere. Full stop.

  9. I’m harassed all the time about going mail order from my insurance company. I just call them and say I’m not interested I would rather support my local community.

  10. This is very sad, very upsetting.
    Leslie’s is not just aMain Street “anchor” store, but a town and Island institution.
    So convenient to walk there for OTC items needed (such as, recently, anti-itch cream!) or pick up a newspaper.

    I feel for the family, trying to keep going against the headwinds created by Big Pharma and Big Retail chains, and thank them for trying.

    It is unconscionable that insurance companies have such power over independent pharmacies and thus, over the character of towns across the USA. Pharmacies should be reimbursed for their actual cost and should actually be subsidized, as they provide a community service.

    I dread to think of what will replace Leslie’s at that location.

    Farewell, Leslie’s!
    And, to another piece of Vineyard Haven as it was.

  11. If there was a parade to celebrate all the many times the Holmberg family helped the community by being there at whatever time and all who benefited could attend- the parade would circle the island more than once! To the Holmberg family and all the employees Thank You for all you have done!

  12. Thank you David and team. My family will forever be grateful for your presence in our lives. All the best to you all moving forward ❤️

  15. Pharmacies are an “essential” business — in the same way as schools, the hospital, grocery stores, etc. For some reason, the community (i.e., Mass General Hospital & Healthy Aging) rose to the challenge, allowed Windemere to fall into ruin and then found millions to rebuild the facility in an inappropriate neighborhood.

    Where was the Chamber of Commerce to help arrive at a different ending to this story? The County Commissioners? Senator Markey was willing to help MGH but not make sure that everyday people could get their prescriptions filled?

    • Everyday people can get their prescriptions filled.
      From the comfort of their own homes.
      Everyday people have smart phones and computers.
      Welcome to modernity.

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