A longtime Whidbey Island pharmacist struggling with industry changes is considering a prescription for corporate ownership.
Ron Lind of Saratoga Enterprises Inc. confirmed this week that change may be in the wind for the decades-old island pharmacy. Insurance companies and mail-order houses are growing sources of competition, and Lind is considering selling portions of the business to a national or Washington-based chain.
“Nothing has happened yet,” Lind said. “They are inquiring and we’re hearing what they have to say.”
Interested corporations include Walgreens, with about 8,200 stores nationwide, CVS with about 7,600 locations, Rite Aid with about 4,600 stores and Bartell Drugs, a state chain with about 60 locations throughout the Puget Sound area.
Saratoga Enterprises encompasses Lind’s Coupeville Pharmacy, Lind’s Freeland Pharmacy and Lind’s Jewelry, also located in Freeland.
Any potential sale would likely include the drug store and pharmacy in Freeland. The Coupeville location is probably too small to generate interest from a national chain, Lind said.
Rumors that the entire business was sold or is closing have run rampant for more than a week. Lind said any deal is still at least two months out, and that he wasn’t planning to make an announcement until there was something substantial to report.
There simply isn’t much to tell yet, he said.
“What I can say is if something does happen, all our employees would be taken care of,” Lind said.
“Number two, Lind’s will continue to exist.”
The Freeland pharmacy might have a different name, but Lind’s Jewelry, the gift, retail, Whidbey artists cards and clothing element of the store would remain.
“It just won’t be Lind’s Pharmacy in Freeland,” he said.
Lind and his wife, Pam, opened their first location in Langley about 40 years ago. They lived for years above the pharmacy and store with their children. The business included a retail/gift element.
The company footprint later grew to include locations in Freeland and Coupeville. Linds Jewelry, a separate business, is located adjacent the Freeland drug store.
Saratoga Enterprises today is owned by multiple people, but Lind and his wife control the majority of shares. The company employs about 55 people.
Chet Ross, president of the Freeland Chamber of Commerce, said he was aware of the potential sale, calling it “the biggest secret on the street,” in reference to the rumors floating around the community.
Any potential sale would be bittersweet, as corporate backing adds a measure of stability but at the price of local ownership, Ross said.
“Sometimes when a large corporate entity takes over, a personal touch is lost,” he said.
“If anyone had a problem, Ron was always available.”
John Norton, spokesman for the National Community Pharmacists Association, confirmed that financial pressures from mail-order houses and reduced reimbursements are increasingly common hurdles for the approximately 23,000 independent owners across the country.
“To some people, the changes have been pretty brutal,” Norton said.
In particular, mail-order houses, usually owned by insurance companies, frequently offer cheaper pharmaceuticals to consumers. Also, some “preferred pharmacy plans” exclude reimbursements to all but national chains.
“They try to cut us out,” Norton said, adding that he sees it as unfair competition.
Aaron Syring, owner of Island Drug in Oak Harbor, Clinton and LaConner, agrees that the industry is now an uneven playing field.
Due to his North Whidbey location’s proximity to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Syring said he often grapples with Tricare, which has built-in financial incentives directing patients to mail-order houses.
“It’s a federal government plan that’s punishing local businesses,” Syring said. “It’s pretty staggering.”
