Colonial Drugs closing after more than 50 years
By Marissa Amoni For The Beacon-News February 3, 2012 2:08PM
Caption 1: Donna Klaumhaus, of Aurora, stops to read a letter posted to the door outside of Colonial Drugs in Aurora notifying customers of the store's closing. Klaumhaus has been a customer for over 30 years. | submitted photo by Marissa Amoni OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
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Updated: March 6, 2012 8:09AM
Dan Stanciu grew up two blocks away from Colonial Drugs on Aurora’s West Side. He remembers riding his bicycle to the drugstore to hit up the candy counter, and visit his dad who worked in the pharmacy at the back of the store.
Stanciu, 53, followed in his dad’s footsteps and, for nearly the last 30 years, has been the one working at the back of the store. That will all change on Tuesday when Stanciu leaves his post as a pharmacist at Colonial Drugs, located at 1032 Prairie St., and moves over to the Jewel-Osco pharmacy on West Galena. The store is closing at the end of the month.
“It is really difficult to say goodbye,” Stanciu said. He purchased the business from his father, also Dan, in 1993. His father bought the neighborhood drugstore that he helped to start in 1958 when it was located further east on Prairie Street. The elder Stanciu moved the store to its current location in 1968.
Stanciu said he has been approached over the years by larger corporate pharmacies to sell the business, but he always told them that he wasn’t interested. However, in recent years, it has become more difficult to make a profit as an independent pharmacy, and the drugstore has been struggling. Stanciu said that last year was “brutal.”
“It got to the point where I am working all the hours,” he said. To sustain the business, Stanciu reduced the hours that other pharmacists were working, and took on the extra work himself. He added that he hasn’t taken a vacation in more than three years.
So last spring, Stanciu decided to explore his options with other pharmacies. He still held out hope of keeping the store, and considered adding a small onsite clinic with a nurse on staff, but in the end it was too much to take on. He was relieved when he came to an agreement with Jewel-Osco, and said he is looking forward to the next chapter of his career.
“Colonial Drugs is my life. It’s my family, my neighbors, my friends. I would miss that terribly, if I had to work anywhere out of this area,” he said.
Stanciu stressed how difficult it has been to close the family business. “If it was possible to save (the business) I would have done it,” he said.
An independent pharmacy and drugstore just can’t sustain itself any longer, Stanciu said: The business model doesn’t work anymore.
“The issue is not competition, but third party insurance,” he added. “There are too many variables that are out of our control. It’s impossible to control profitability ... The insurance agencies have stripped all the profit (from us.)”
While the pharmacy will close on Tuesday, and the store will remain open through February. Stanciu starts his new position at Jewel-Osco on Wednesday.
As grateful as Stanciu is for the opportunity to survive as a pharmacist, he once had different plans for his future.
“Our location along this strip of businesses is really unique,” he said of the corner spot that is next to Prisco’s Fine Foods, and other small businesses.
“I’ve always wanted to practice pharmacy in Mayberry, and this was the closest to it. This is not how it’s supposed to end, but it is a necessary change.”
All prescription needs from Colonial will be served by Jewel-Osco starting on Wednesday. Call Colonial Drugs at 630-897-2211, or Jewel-Osco at 630-892-9075.
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