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Pharmacy isn’t moving far
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| Buffalo Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Steve King will be packing up the inventory for a weekend transition to H-E-B Pharmacy. |
By CYNTHIA LESCALLLEET
During his nearly 40-year career as a pharmacist, Steve King built and sold a three-pharmacy chain, retired, and then bought Buffalo Pharmacy, 3118 Bissonnet St.
Since 2002, King has been the fourth owner of that independent, neighborhood pharmacy, which opened in 1951.
Come Monday, however, King will start another phase of his pharmacy career. He’ll become the managing pharmacist for H-E-B Pharmacy, which bought him out.
“I agreed to stay on as long as I can get up in the morning,” he said.
Buffalo Pharmacy closes its doors at 2 p.m. Nov. 8. H-E-B Pharmacy opens nearby at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 10 in a temporary building on a prepared site that’s part of a larger construction project by H-E-B.
“I believe it (the transition) is going to be seamless” for customers, he said, “though maybe a little hectic at first.”
For now, the pharmacy’s phone number will remain the same (713-664-3426), King said, as will the staff, including pharmacist Clinton Heine.
H-E-B spokeswoman Cyndy Garza-Roberts said King and Heine share the company’s commitment to meeting the needs of the community and H-E-B is “excited to welcome them” to the team.
Along with familiar faces behind the counter, the new location will retain several services customers have long appreciated, including the compounding and delivery of prescriptions, King said. Some specialty items once carried in the pharmacy will be available by special order.
Some things aren’t making the move. Among them, the old doctor’s office scale and unsold gifts and sundries, which have been greatly discounted.
The building housing Buffalo Pharmacy will be razed as part of the continuing site preparation for a future H-E-B grocery store, King said. Buffalo Grille, a separate business next door, remains open.
Garza-Roberts said a final design for the new store is still in progress: “We continue to work with architects on a design that will cater to the area.”
As a few customers waited for their prescriptions on Monday, they lamented the loss of another Houston business icon. They know most of what Buffalo Pharmacy had still will be available, but, as one woman noted, “It’s not going to look like this.”
King, 70, acknowledged that this end of an era is as sad for him as it is for his customers, but he’s up for the new post. He said if he had been younger he might have opted to move his pharmacy elsewhere and start over.
“For me to start over at 70 is ridiculous,” he said, calling this new phase “a good exit strategy.”
Since 2002, King has been the fourth owner of that independent, neighborhood pharmacy, which opened in 1951.
Come Monday, however, King will start another phase of his pharmacy career. He’ll become the managing pharmacist for H-E-B Pharmacy, which bought him out.
“I agreed to stay on as long as I can get up in the morning,” he said.
Buffalo Pharmacy closes its doors at 2 p.m. Nov. 8. H-E-B Pharmacy opens nearby at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 10 in a temporary building on a prepared site that’s part of a larger construction project by H-E-B.
“I believe it (the transition) is going to be seamless” for customers, he said, “though maybe a little hectic at first.”
For now, the pharmacy’s phone number will remain the same (713-664-3426), King said, as will the staff, including pharmacist Clinton Heine.
H-E-B spokeswoman Cyndy Garza-Roberts said King and Heine share the company’s commitment to meeting the needs of the community and H-E-B is “excited to welcome them” to the team.
Along with familiar faces behind the counter, the new location will retain several services customers have long appreciated, including the compounding and delivery of prescriptions, King said. Some specialty items once carried in the pharmacy will be available by special order.
Some things aren’t making the move. Among them, the old doctor’s office scale and unsold gifts and sundries, which have been greatly discounted.
The building housing Buffalo Pharmacy will be razed as part of the continuing site preparation for a future H-E-B grocery store, King said. Buffalo Grille, a separate business next door, remains open.
Garza-Roberts said a final design for the new store is still in progress: “We continue to work with architects on a design that will cater to the area.”
As a few customers waited for their prescriptions on Monday, they lamented the loss of another Houston business icon. They know most of what Buffalo Pharmacy had still will be available, but, as one woman noted, “It’s not going to look like this.”
King, 70, acknowledged that this end of an era is as sad for him as it is for his customers, but he’s up for the new post. He said if he had been younger he might have opted to move his pharmacy elsewhere and start over.
“For me to start over at 70 is ridiculous,” he said, calling this new phase “a good exit strategy.”
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