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West Haven Business Thrives on Service
Silver's Drug Shop at 519 Campbell Avenue in West Haven has been a fixture in that city's center for generations. Founded by William Silver, the shop was later taken over by his sons David and Edward, the latter of whom retired in 1990. Today it is run by David with help from his son, Scott
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Business New Haven
11/22/1999
By: Priscilla Searles
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How long ago was Silver's founded?
My father, William, opened the store in 1919 - 80 years ago. In the beginning [all merchandise] was in cases or enclosed; there was no self-service. There was a fountain and lots of home remedies. The interior was dark wood with fans in the ceiling. The pharmacy was all compounds, everything was mixed or made on site. We still have the original books and we still do some compounds today. When my father became sick, my brother David went to pharmacy school at what is now the University of New Haven. After graduating from pharmacy school I joined the staff in 1959. My son is also a pharmacist.
How has the business changed over the years?
We've had to make a lot of changes over the years and of course, we've expanded. With 5,000 square feet, we're the largest store in the center of town. We used to sell Elizabeth Arden cosmetics. Cosmetics are very limited now. We sell fewer beauty aids because that's a shopping center option available in many places. For years we had a lunch counter that was very popular with the Armstrong Rubber employees, for example. Eventually the counter became impractical; we needed the space for expansion of our product line and it was removed in 1982. But the woman who ran the counter still works here. In fact, we have six women who have worked here a total of 273 years.
How about your customers?
People are living longer, there is more home health care now and stays in the hospital are shorter. We've had to address these issues, carry supplies you might have had from the hospital in the past. We're redefining the needs of our customers. We have to become more and more professional, we're in a service-oriented business. There are new products, machines that customers have to be trained to use, work with diabetics, information on insurance or other reimbursements that we must explain to customers. We have three full-time pharmacists, five part-time and eight technicians who assist the pharmacists and help deal with the insurance paperwork. Scott works a lot on insurance issues in addition to his pharmacy work. We have 45 employees [in all].
Privately owned drugstores seem to be disappearing. How do you compete with chain stores that have pharmacies?
We do discount, we have to be competitive and be aware of the competition. We're in the ballpark in price with the chain store drugstore. But the most important factor for us is service. People spend a lot of time asking questions; they want to feel comfortable with their pharmacist and trust him. It becomes very personal. And of course the training we provide as well as the help on insurance is a major reason for our success. BNH
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