09/09/2024
Hello--it's Jen, Tom's wife. I am making the news 'Facebook official' by posting that Brandon Pharmacy is closing. Tom wants to say how grateful he is for all of you. He got to accomplish his dream of owning his own pharmacy and supporting the community we live and are raising our children in (just not for as long as he wanted to).
For context, and some history on Brandon Pharmacy, when we started out 14 years ago, we opened as Brandon Healthmart Pharmacy in the Eagle Creek buiding over by the Bluffs. Our daughter Emma was just 2 (now 16) and I was pregnant with Hannah (now almost 14). We couldn't afford any help so I worked at my remote office job out of the back area (that doubled as his office) and helped out when I wasn't busy with my work. His parents also came and helped often in those early years. Having worked with Anne before branching out on his own, Tom always said as soon as he could afford having a tech, he would hire her. Because as you all know, Anne is just the absolute best. Anne and her kids will always be family to Tom, myself, and the girls.
When we were able to move into the new building we also had grown enough to hire more staff (Jessica was Tom's part time pharmacist and allowed him his first regular time off since opening, and Jennifer was our part time tech). We appreciate them so much for their years of hard work!
As Tom mentioned in the Brandon Valley Journal article that came out this week, the last few years had gotten rough, with insurance companies dictating that many of our customers leave our pharmacy to go through the pharmacies they owned/contracted with. They also cut reimbursement rates to a point where Tom lost money on almost every prescription that ran through insurance. We had to downsize the staff and cut costs wherever we could. In the end, it wasn't feasible to remain open. One of the hardest parts of all of this is that Brandon Pharmacy's closure isn't due to lack of business or community support, it is the PBM's (pharmacy insurance) that have killed community pharmacies all over the country.
In closing, (to anyone who read this far, thank you for indulging my long winded nature) we don't know what is next for our family, but we don't plan on going anywhere. While I was born and raised in Brandon, I like to think the last 20 years of marriage to me, raising our own children here, and running a business here has converted Tom to an official local 'Brandonite' as well.
Thank you again, for supporting our business and family over the last 14 years, we appreciate it very much. Our last day open will be Tuesday, September 17th.
