In business for 133 years, an historic pharmacy in downtown Benton has left the building. In a merge purchase, pharmaceutical titan Walgreens recently purchased Smith-Caldwell Drugstore.
“Walgreens is pleased to serve customers from Smith-Caldwell and we welcome several of their employees to our company,” said Marty Maloney Senior Manager, Media Relations at Walgreens.
The website, social media and all of Smith Caldwell’s signs have been taken down.
You may still see movement at the now former Smith-Caldwell building, at 414 N. Main Street, over the next month or so. The remains and relics of the business are not fully moved out yet. All of the prescriptions and most of the staff went with the merger. They will be at the Walgreens location at Military and Carpenter in Benton.
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Smith-Caldwell was leasing the building, so it will be empty for a minute. No word on what will happen next. Smith-Caldwell has been known for their boutique, makeup counter, and soda fountain and diner.
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- Soda Fountain & Diner
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- Boutique, makeup, bridal registry
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- Locally made items.
Owners at Smith-Caldwell could not comment, but another pharmacy in the downtown Benton area stated that they are “shocked but not surprised.” Blake Torres and Zack Haley are pharmacists and partners at West Side Pharmacy at 620 W South Street. Torres detailed some reasons that are making it difficult for pharmacists to stay in business for themselves.
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“Name another industry where your direct competitor sets your reimbursements? I’ll wait.” said Torres, speaking about the giants of the industry, such as Walgreens, CVS and Express Scripts. Torres had good things to say about Smith-Caldwell, “generations of patients can trace their prescription history back to this pillar of Saline County.