Business & Tech

SOLD! Last Independent Pharmacy on Aquidneck Island will Become a CVS

After 32 years at the helm, Newport Prescription Center's David Whalley is selling the business to CVS effective Friday.

On Friday at 5 p.m., David Whalley will lock the door to Newport Prescription Center one last time, ending a 32-run as the owner of what became Aquidneck Island's last remaining independently owned pharmacy.

Over the weekend, the pharmacy will stay closed as crews work furtively to get the place ready for Monday when it opens back up — as a CVS.

"I'm not selling for lack of business," Whalley said in an interview. "I just want more time to myself."

In fact, Whalley is selling the business at a high point. Fresh off a major construction project and renovation after he bought the adjacent property in 2012, Whalley said he's selling at a time that CVS was willing to make a "very generous officer," keep his existing employees employed and ensure longtime customers still have a local place to go to get their prescriptions filled.

"I have 16 employees, a few of us are retiring, but the rest of them have a job with CVS if they want it," Whalley said. "It's a great opportunity for them with a company with 100 billion in sales."

Whalley said he bought the pharmacy in 1983. It previously was named the Lion Drug Company and was located across the street at 330 Broadway. In 1985, he bought the former Bric's Market across the street and moved into that spot in 1993.

Over time the business grew — including the doubling the size of the building to 7,000 square feet — and then in 2012, he bought the adjacent property and built a new building at 287 Broadway for the pharmacy, converting the former pharmacy building into what is now Island Wine and Spirits.

Whalley will still be a landlord, leasing the building to CVS. He'll also keep running the liquor store, he said, which will keep him busy in between some rounds of golf and other opportunities that present themselves.

"With the liquor store and this one, it's more challenging to run two businesses," he said. "So I decided to sell to them. They've been asking me for years."

The son of a pharmacist, Whalley's father ran a pharmacy in Warwick for 40 years. Whalley's son is in his fourth year in pharmacy school but "he's not interested in retail," Whalley said.

A Middletown resident, Whalley said the success of Newport Prescription Center hinged on personal service and the relationships developed with patients over the years.

Though some might lament the new corporate ownership, Whalley said the business has changed.

"It's no different than any other business," he said. "You used to have small hardware stores and more restaurants. The chains are the evolutions of most business models."

And consider that CVS was interested so much in a pharmacy with 2,200 square feet of floor space where a typical CVS is 12,000 square feet.

"It tells you something about the business we built here," he said.

Whalley would not reveal any details about the terms of the sale, but he did say they signed a lease with an option for 25 years.

When the pharmacy started in 1983, Whalley was competing against seven other independent pharmacies. And on Friday, he'll be the last one for one last shift.


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