Neighborhood Pharmacy Counter

A pharmacy on the corner of my block has been run by the same family for 3 generations. At the counter where you pick up prescriptions, the pharmacist gives advice, recommends over-the-counter remedies, and knows your family's health history well enough to flag drug interactions without checking a computer. Wooden shelving behind the counter holds medications organized by an alphabetical system that only the 2 pharmacists understand. Handwritten labels on the bins look like they have been there since the 1990s. Chain pharmacies process prescriptions faster, but they rotate staff so frequently that nobody remembers your name or your history. Three chairs and a rack of outdated magazines fill the waiting area. People sitting and waiting rather than leaving and coming back tells you the pharmacy functions as a social space for the older residents in the neighborhood.