New Richland Drug & Curt’s Pharmacy Announce Surprise Closing
It was announced on Friday according to the NRHEG Star Eagle that New Richland Drug in New Richland and Curt's Pharmacy in Albert Lea would be no longer filling prescriptions on Tuesday, November 18th. Patients who had their prescriptions filled at both pharmacies will be directed to go to Walgreens in Albert Lea.
The plan is to stop filling prescriptions beginning on Tuesday, November 18th and then liquidate the remaining inventory in the stores before closing the two locations. The liquidation process is expected to take two to three weeks.
The owner of both pharmacy's Curt Clarambeau told the Star Eagle that "the local store (New Richland Drug) has been losing money for several years." Clarambeau also said that "New Richland was probably the only town in the state with a population of 1,200 to still have a pharmacy."
A 2018 Washington Post article about rural pharmacies has a statistic I read that really blows my mind away. The statistic came from the Rural Policy Research Institute that said "630 rural communities saw their only pharmacy close its doors from 2003 to 2018. During that same stretch, 302 rural communities lost all but one local pharmacy."
In August of this year, Walgreen's announced that it was closing 200 stores nationwide.