'Mom And Pop' Crown Heights Pharmacy Fights Through Coronavirus

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Familiar voices still answer the phones at Rubin Chemists in Crown Heights — one of many independent pharmacies soldiering, and at times struggling, through the coronavirus crisis.

They still answer customers' questions, dole out advice, take prescription information and send medications out for delivery free of charge.

It's been that way as long as the pharmacy has stood at Nostrand Avenue — "forever," by co-owner Krishna Inapuri's reckoning. Inapuri aims to keep it that way, especially as the coronavirus ravages his neighborhood and city.

"We have no choice but to stay open for all of our patients," he said.

The new coronavirus is exacting steep tolls on Rubin Chemists and other independent pharmacies. One is human — Inapuri said many of his customers have fallen ill.

Tragically, at least two have died, he said.

"Did I know them? Yes, absolutely," he said.

The other toll is economic — a background hum of added worry and strain amid the human tragedy Inapuri and his staff deal with daily. And it's not because business isn't busy.

Independent, "mom and pop" pharmacies like Rubin Chemists rely on pharmacy benefit managers — essentially, middlemen between insurance companies and pharmacies — for reimbursements.

Inapuri said he and his fellow mom and pops have seen those reimbursements dry up amid the coronavirus pandemic. They keep on sending the middlemen the bills but with less and less success.

"It is putting a lot of strain on pharmacists," Inapuri said.

Rubin Chemists hasn't slowed down, despite the strain, Inapuri said. He said staff encourages customers to call ahead so they can best address their needs.

The store's aisles now have social distancing markers and plexiglass protects customers and pharmacists alike, but it's otherwise business as usual.

"We deliver for free, even in this situation," he said.

Inapuri encouraged people worried about the strain on local pharmacies to write their elected representatives here.