Longtime Columbia pharmacy Long’s Drugs closes abruptly
Long’s Drugs, a longtime locally-owned pharmacy in Columbia, has abruptly shut its doors, catching some of its longtime customers off-guard.
Long’s has been acquired by CVS, shuddering its 11 Midlands locations and redirecting customers to the new pharmacy.
The pharmacy has been run by the Long family since it was founded by Dr. Gene Long in 1968, according to the Long’s website. But on Wednesday, three locations visited by The State were closed, with signs directing customers to the nearest CVS.
One Long’s location had a moving truck out front hauling its contents away. Calls to Long’s corporate office were not returned before publication.
In a statement on its website, CVS promises to provide the same services Long’s customers had come to expect, and to “retain the staff you know and trust.”
But long-time customer Martha Fowler said she felt blindsided by the closing. The Columbia resident said she received no notification the store was closing and only learned the news Wednesday from Facebook.
“I just think that’s irresponsible to the customers they’ve had since before they bought the pharmacy,” Fowler said.
A customer at the pharmacy for some 60 years, since she was a child, Fowler said she is concerned for the employees she’s come to know on a first-name basis.
When it comes to loyalty to her local pharmacy, “I have always told people when people have said, ‘Why don’t you go to CVS or Rite Aid?’ ... I consider my pharmacist the same as my doctor.”
Fowler has medications delivered to her home monthly from Longs without any effort on her part, and she isn’t sure whether or how that will change going forward, she said.
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 2:01 PM.
.jpg)