Shelter Island to Rely on Prescription Deliveries After Loss of Only Pharmacy

For now, residents of Shelter Island are depending on the kindness of delivery services to get prescription medications, following the closure of Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy’s prescription services.

The store, which had been running since the 1920s, was purchased in 2022 by the Soloviev Group, a real estate company that has been buying several properties across the East End in recent years. It was the only pharmacy on Shelter Island, and ended its prescription services on Oct. 7.

“We heard a couple of weeks ago that they were closing because they were losing too much money,” Shelter Island Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams said. “They’re going to keep the store open, so over the counter medicines will still be available, plus T shirts, hats, and the soda fountain.”

Shelter Islanders are able to fill their prescriptions at Colonial Drugs in Greenport and Sag Harbor Pharmacy in Sag Harbor; both villages have ferry services to Shelter Island. Sag Harbor Pharmacy is delivering five days a week, while Colonial Drugs is delivering seven days a week. According to the supervisor, the ferry companies are giving discounted rates, so there is no delivery fee for Shelter Island residents.

“We also have a couple of county grant programs for seniors to help those who are homebound,” Brach-Williams added. “We have a shopping assistance program that allows for one of our drivers to go and pick up groceries and prescriptions for them. And then we also have a AAA transportation program, which will take seniors to their doctor’s appointments. So we will also include stops at the drugstores to pick up prescriptions.”

The situation is not unprecedented; other nearby island communities are without pharmacies as well.

“We started to do some research into how are other communities like Nantucket, Fishers Island, Block Island, how do they deal with pharmacy needs?” Brach-Williams said. “And it sounds like they’ve got similar situations where they don’t have a full time pharmacy. I think Block Island has prescriptions delivered from Rhode Island, but we’re looking into it. We also wonder about the model for independently owned pharmacies these days, because we aren’t that big. So do we have enough volume on Shelter Island for something to survive? We’ll be reaching out to prior pharmacy owners and see if they can shed some light on the profitability. And maybe we need to do something with a town-owned piece of land, whereby, right now we have one of the doctors, an independent practicing physician, pays $1 a year in rent.”

A community forum to address the issue was held on Oct. 5, and about 100 residents attended. The takeaway, according to the supervisor, is that the locals want a full-time pharmacy back on the island.

“That will be the goal. And if we can help make that happen, we will,” Brach-Williams said.