Metropolitan Pharmacy in Queens fills its last prescriptions

A beloved Queens small business fills its last prescriptions Monday.

Many are mourning the demise of Metropolitan Pharmacy, a 40-year-old small business on Metropolitan Avenue in Kew Gardens near the Richmond Hill border, as well as its sister business, Metro Pharmacy II, in Forest Hills.

The closing of Metropolitan Pharmacy will be a great loss, residents say, because owner Ira Lisogorsky has selflessly served the neighborhood.

“I needed some medicine, but my insurance card wasn’t going through because of a technical glitch,” recalled Suzanne Hall, a Kew Gardens resident and a longtime customer.

“Ira knew how much I needed the medicine, gave it to me immediately and told me that he’d settle the insurance issue later on,” she said.

So why is Metropolitan Pharmacy shuttering?

Lisogorsky, who fills thousands of prescriptions, said he has problems with drug companies as well as regulatory and city policies.

“The city doesn’t care about us,” he said. “They look at us as a cash cow, and yet it is small businesses that made this city.” He cleans his sidewalk each day, but said “if the wind blows, suddenly I have a fine.”

Lisogorsky also said other factors pushing him out include the popularity of online ordering combined with “the drug companies screwing us so I make almost nothing on prescriptions.”

Still, customers said his personal touch means a lot.

“No matter how busy, Ira would peek out from behind the counter to greet you,” said longtime customer Rosemary Sherman.

“We’ll deeply miss Ira,” said community leader Carol Lacks, “a pharmacist who knows all of our names and health care needs.”

Credit: Source link

The post Metropolitan Pharmacy in Queens fills its last prescriptions appeared first on Fox USA Live.

from Fox USA Live https://ift.tt/2SQj98M