Year in Review: Pharmacy shutters prescription services

One of the most significant stories the Reporter published in 2025 was the out-of-the-blue announcement in early October by the Soloviev Group that they were shutting down all  prescription services at the Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy. Since then, elected officials and the community have rallied to find a way to keep pharmacy services operating here, but so far, nothing has happened, leaving Islanders with no local access to fill prescriptions. 

As word spread of the impending close, customers began coming by the Heights Pharmacy for confirmation. Their reactions ranged from calm planning, to concern, to consternation. Some asked how to go about transferring prescriptions and were handed a letter that was going out to all customers, with a list of pharmacies.

One customer, Cristina Peffer, said she’d had to go to the pharmacy just a week before the announcement when she had a high fever, and wouldn’t have been able to travel to a pharmacy off-Island. She expressed concern that elderly people as well as those who were ill would suffer as a result. Another customer lamented the way that the Island was changing. 

Several expressed relief to hear that Suzanne Fujita and Greg Ofrias, who had run the pharmacy for decades, had stepped up to ensure that prescriptions could be filled at their Southold Pharmacy. They have a limited delivery service to the Island currently, and customers at the store and on social media expressed hope that deliveries could be arranged to serve the Island’s large elderly population.

The staff assured customers that the rest of the store would remain open, with the soda fountain, a beloved meeting spot for generations, continuing to serve food, beverages and ice cream. 

A few days before the formal announcement, Lois Draegin stopped by the pharmacy to pick up a newspaper. Several women ahead of her were picking up prescriptions. The pharmacist came out and told one woman that her medication wouldn’t be available until early next week. Then, Ms. Draegin recalled, the pharmacist said she might as well also tell her now, that as of Oct 7, the pharmacy would no longer be filling prescriptions. 

The two women were in shock. The pharmacist was clearly upset, and had no explanation, other than attributing the decision to the owners, the Soloviev Group.

Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams told the Reporter after the decision by the corporate owners was made that she spoke with August Ceradini, a representative of the Soloviev Group, and they had dug in on their decision to shut down all prescription services. Ms. Brach-Williams had presented a plan to ask the Group to reconsider closing the only venue on the Island that fills prescriptions, or to extend the date for the shutdown. But, the supervisor said, “They are not going to budge.” 

The Reporter spoke with Kelly Brochu, director of the Senior Center, who said she would work with “our Shopping Assistance Grant for homebound seniors and our AAA Transportation Program for seniors who need a ride to the pharmacy to pick up their prescriptions, both funded through the New York Office of the Aging through Suffolk County Office of the Aging. Our NYSDOT Section 5310 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Grant will also help seniors that need a ride to a pharmacy off-Island.”

She added that the Senior Center would help Island seniors set up Express scripts, or other delivery options, if needed for recurring prescriptions.  

Deputy Town Supervisor Meg Larsen posted on the Reporter’s Facebook page: “This will be a hardship and a burden for many people … I’m working on sorting this out for everyone, not just seniors.”

Silence about the future of having a local pharmacy on Shelter Island doesn’t mean Town officials have been idle, Ms. Larsen told the Health & Wellness Committee at a meeting. The community’s needs have not been abandoned, she added, with explorations continuing while short-term solutions remain in place.

From the day the Soloviev Group told Islanders the Heights store would remain but pharmacy services would end within a week, Town officials focused first on immediate, short-term solutions. Two pharmacies — Sag Harbor Pharmacy and Greenport’s Colonial Drugs & Surgicals — deliver prescriptions to people’s houses on Shelter Island at the end of each day.

Islanders still want a local pharmacy and some possible solutions can’t work, Ms. Larsen said. Montauk lost its only pharmacy in October 2024 and has a replacement today thanks to the persistence of the community and Frank Calvo, who for 13 years was the pharmacist at the former White’s Drug and Department Store. Montauk had the pharmacist, but not a place to conduct business. Ideas flowed for possible venues, but rentals were out of the question. Still, everyone had suggestions for space and a store was finally identified.

There was still the time-consuming process of readying the space and obtaining State licensing to operate. There was work to do with companies providing health insurance to customers to obtain arrangements to allow the new pharmacy to accept that coverage.

As for arranging for possible financing for the Island, that is going to require information that may be borrowed from Montauk, where Mr. Calvo has been working with the Stony Brook University Small Business Development Center and M&T Bank.

“They have been holding my hand through the whole process and have been absolutely wonderful,” Mr. Calvo said.