Shelter Island wishes bon voyage to Pharmacy owner/manager

For new hires at the Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy, Greg Ofrias, co-owner and manager for nearly three-and-a-half decades, would offer a bit of counseling for working in a Pharmacy in a small town: “Remember, that if you say something on a North Ferry boat, they hear it on a South Ferry boat.”

This truth was immediately apparent as Mr. Ofrias sat outside at a table speaking with someone at the foot of the steps leading up to the Heights landmark a few days before he retired. It seems the whole town knew he was leaving. In 30 minutes, he was interrupted more than 10 times by people either entering or exiting the Pharmacy, all wishing him well and saying how much he would be missed.

With a smile, he admitted to being “overwhelmed” by the response. “I’m just Greg from the Pharmacy. I didn’t know I affected so many people on this Island. People are coming in and thanking me — it was about to make me cry.”

Of course, being Greg from the Pharmacy is exactly why Islanders responded to the news that he was leaving, his final day being the end of last month. Mr. Ofrias was as much an integral part of the place as the legendary lunch counter, always there to answer questions, give directions, help find that particular brand of over-the-counter-medication or sunscreen, to calm ruffled feathers and over-anxious customers, and serve up an-out-of this-world bacon, egg and cheese on roll.

“Everyone has a story, and you have to be a good listener in this business,” he said. If you get something wrong, you apologize, make it right and move on. The multiple rewards of being part of the community don’t compare to the few complaints he’s fielded. “I’ve seen marriage proposals at the lunch counter, and people coming in for wedding pictures. We had a wedding breakfast of 36 takeout orders. I’ve seen marriages where one of the parties was once a kid at the counter.”

He and his wife Paulette and sister-in-law Suzanne Fujita bought the place on Oct. 1, 1988, right after Ms. Fujita had finished pharmacy school and attained her certification. She ran the pharmacy while Mr. Ofrias managed the store and lunch counter, until they sold their business to the Soloviev Group in March 2022.

Ms. Fujita moved on to the family’s other business, the Southold Pharmacy. The new owners asked Mr. Ofrias to stay during a transition phase, which stretched to two years, but now a manager is retiring in Southold and Mr. Ofrias is moving full time to the North Fork.

A resident of Southold, his commute will be a little shorter and less complex.  “I figured it out,” he said. “Say, 20 minutes a day total back and forth on the boat, six days a week, 50 weeks a year, 35 years. I’d say I should qualify for my captain’s license.”

The Pharmacy is the first business visitors see when they get off the North Ferry. Many who pass by probably assume it’s just a Pharmacy, but a closer look will reveal another function. On the Queen Ann style structure on Grand Avenue the sign reads: “SODA — DRUGS.”

Once an integral part of any drugstore, lunch counters or soda fountains are now history, except on Shelter Island. The Pharmacy’s counter isn’t retro, because it’s never gone away in more than 100 years of serving up breakfast and lunch.

According to the Shelter Island Historical Society, the building pre-dates 1883, and it seems it was always a drugstore. The first pharmacist on the Island, C. Wesley Smith, set up shop here and there have been several owners since, including the Ofrias and Ms. Fujita, and now the Solovievs.

You can’t miss it exiting North Ferry, but back in 1988 when his family was considering buying the place, Mr. Ofrias came from the other direction and never saw it. He was working as an assistant manager at a supermarket in Bridgehampton when he took South Ferry to set eyes on the prospective purchase. In the days before GPS mapping became available in the palm of your hand, he was told to just get off the ferry and stay on Route 114.

“You can’t miss it, people told me, but of course I did,” he remembered. “There’s no pharmacy on Shelter Island,’ I said.”

Directed back, it was love at first sight with the place, and the love affair spread to Shelter Island and its residents.

There have been few changes during his residency, with adjustments to make the aisles a bit wider, better ventilation and floor surfaces. “No real dramatic changes,” he said, remembering that early on they hired consultants to look at the place and recommend changes.

“They said to take out the lunch counter” to add more retail space, and perhaps make it into an expanded perfume and cosmetics section.

“No,” Mr. Ofrias said. “No way. We knew this was part of the community.”

But there have been changes, due to the steady march of technology. “Like all businesses, we’re competing against online stores,” he said. But the Heights Pharmacy has an advantage with the family-owned store in Southold. “We could say, if we didn’t have something and had it at the other store, ‘We’ll have it here for you tomorrow.’ People appreciate that.”

Another technological advance keeps some customers out of the Pharmacy. “Before online newspapers, we’d sell 700 copies of The New York Times on July Fourth weekends,” he said. “Now we sell 40.”

Over the three decades, the most challenging period was during the COVID pandemic. Hours were cut back, but the Pharmacy stayed open to serve the public. There were grim days, but he was heartened, as were most Islanders, by how residents pulled together to battle the health emergency that affected every part of people’s lives.

Mr. Ofrias praised Brett Surerus and Alex Graham who initiated a program that kept Island food providers functioning — including the lunch counter — and paid them to help feed the staffs at Eastern Long Island and Stony Brook Southampton hospitals through donations administered by the newly formed Shelter Island Action Alliance.

Mr. Ofrias noted a sign was placed outside the store reading: “Thank you SI Rx.”

Despite a smooth transition to new ownership, there was controversy when it was revealed by the Reporter that in December 2022, months after the Soloviev purchase, Islanders covered by Medicaid began being told they would soon have to handle their prescriptions through CVS, which has stores on the North and South forks.

Department of Health statistics showed there were 302 Islanders registered with Medicaid as of March 2022. That represented 8% of the Island population and at least 58 of the Medicaid patients listed were children whose ages were anywhere from birth to age 17.

The full number of Medicaid patients on the Island could be higher because the Department of Health only had statistics for those registered through the Affordable Care Act, not those enrolled by local social services departments.

The Reporter stayed on the story, and as of June 30, 2023, the owners were enrolled in the Medicaid program as a provider. “The Soloviev’s have gotten beat up a little, but they’re doing a good job,” Mr. Ofrias said.

He noted that he and the family had had offers to sell the business to a group that wanted “a Hampton vibe and someone wanted to do something with Tacos,” but the new owners have made commitments to keep things more or less status quo.

His love for the customers and the spirit of the Island is strong, he said. “You’d see people fighting like cats and dogs and the next day they were giving rides to each other for doctor’s appointments,” he said with a smile. “I’ll miss it. I didn’t realize how much,” his smile grew larger. “I didn’t have to bring my lunch one single day.”

Other things he’ll miss, not taking the ferry and opening the Pharmacy at 7:30 a.m., six days a week? “The people.”

And it was easy to see how much he’ll be missed, as yet one more person stopped by outside the Pharmacy to wish him luck and thank him for decades of running an essential business that is also a unique Shelter Island experience.