By Dan Hust
LIVINGSTON MANOR — Livingston Manor’s only pharmacy, Medicap, closed on Friday.
Pharmacy Manager Teri Wolcott confirmed that she and three other employees are now unemployed after the pharmacy ceased operations Friday afternoon.
“I feel so bad,” she acknowledged. “We’ve been here since 2003.”
The pharmacy was part of Manor resident Andrew Krieger’s downtown efforts, some of which – including the building in which the pharmacy sits – fell to bank foreclosure in recent years.
Wolcott said the pharmacy soldiered on but that the owner ultimately couldn’t keep it going.
Krieger could not be reached for comment yesterday. Neither could officials from the Medicap franchiser, Cardinal Health.
On Friday, Wolcott and crew transferred Medicap’s records to the Medicine Shoppe in Liberty, so that customers’ information is not lost.
“We’re part of the same company [Cardinal Health],” explained Medicine Shoppe owner Lisa Baumander.
She said she’s not interested in taking over Medicap’s operations in Livingston Manor but will provide service in the wake of the closure.
The Medicine Shoppe is located off Route 52 in the Colonial Square Mall and can be reached at 292-8200.
Manor may not be without a pharmacy for long, however.
According to Michael Davidoff, the Monticello attorney who is the receiver in the pharmacy building’s foreclosure, at least two existing pharmacies in Sullivan County have expressed interest in expanding to that location.
“We need an anchor here,” affirmed Shirley Fulton, a Manor native who runs the Wildlife Gift Shop just down Main Street. “It’s like a hole in the community. I think it’s a terrible loss.”
Wolcott hopes someone does reopen the pharmacy – not so much for her own job prospects but for the hamlet’s sake, as the next closest pharmacies are in Liberty.
“God bless the community,” she related on Friday. “It’s been hard for them, but they’re willing to wait. Let me tell you: they’ve got the biggest hearts!”