Locally-owned pharmacy in Butler County closes its doors after 17 years

BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — A longtime independent pharmacy in Butler County, Institute Hill Pharmacy along East Jefferson Street, closed Tuesday after 17 years.

“It’s sad, leaving the community behind,” said Jonathan Valentino, Institute Hill Pharmacy owner. “We had to give our announcement two weeks ago and there’s been the outcry and love from the community.”

Valentino said the hardest part is how this affects the community because, for the past 17 years, he’s made an effort to get to know everyone who walked through the door.

“Man he’s going to be missed,” said Dale, a longtime customer.

Channel 11 saw many longtime customers getting their prescriptions at the pharmacy for the last time. Customers will now have to get their prescriptions filled up at the Rite Aid in downtown Butler.

“I’m really going to miss him let me tell ya,” said another longtime customer.

Valentino said the last few years have been extremely hard. He said they’ve been losing money due to the financial burden pharmacies are dealing with.

“Certain medications insurance companies won’t reimburse you properly, so the pharmacy ends up paying for it to put it on the shelf and provide a portion of that to the patient,” said Valentino.

Channel 11 spoke with several other local independently owned pharmacies, and they say they are dealing with the same issue and it’s a constant challenge.

“You can lose hundreds of dollars filling one prescription,” said Valentino.

Some other pharmacy owners in our area said they are also feeling the pinch and are reaching their breaking point and said we may see more neighborhood pharmacies close.

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