Campus Chemist to close up shop

This May, Penn's campus will bid farewell to a Spruce Street staple when Campus Chemists closes its doors.

Owned and operated by pharmacist Israel Cohen for over 30 years, the neighborhood pharmacy is going out of business following financial hardships.

"I've been here 30 years, and I've had enough," Cohen said.

Cohen said the closure is primarily due to the pharmacy's failure to generate a profit, largely due to problems with insurance companies, which pay for all of the prescriptions he fills.

"The insurance companies are refusing to give us a fair mark-up," he said, citing the $1.75 he receives for each prescription the pharmacy fills as insufficient to support a business.

Another significant reason is that business has been slow due to the decline of pedestrians on Spruce Street, he noted.

"Traffic patterns on this part of campus have changed," he said. "We're not getting the same volume of people."

Cohen believes that this is due to the many new projects being pursued in the University Square area and 40th Street corridor, which he says have consumed the University's attention and overshadowed attempts to focus on the businesses on the south side of campus.

However, "it doesn't do any good to blame the University," he said.

Cohen also noted the more universal transition from small, independently-owned and family-operated pharmacies to the current situation, in which the pharmacy business is dominated by larger companies.

"This is not an era for the independent pharmacy anymore," he said.

Cohen's business currently serves a mix of students and University employees, several who have been going there for years. But most students said the closing of the pharmacy would not be a major inconvenience to them, largely due to the presence of CVS just blocks away on 39th and Walnut streets.

Wharton freshman Erica Garvey said that the closing will not affect her because "we have CVS really nearby, which provides the same services, but is less expensive" and has a larger selection.

College freshman John Ingram agreed, saying, "I was indifferent toward [the pharmacy]. Their prices and selection aren't particularly good."

"I hope they fill that space," he added.

Meanwhile, Cohen said that when he closes in May, he will continue to work "somewhere, sometime, somehow," but not in a store of his own.

"I've been in business for 50 years," he said. "There's always a jolt in having to come to the end of a long-term function in your life like this. It takes some rethinking."

"It has to happen sooner or later," he said of the closure.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.