The Southside Pharmacy’s last day of operation was Monday, owner Salim Sarvaiya told The Post-Journal.

“We were bought out by CVS,” he said. “It was hard to compete with the big chains and with mail order prescriptions. They were very competitive.”

Sarvaiya, who also co-owned the Falconer Pharmacy, said that independent pharmacy has also closed for the same reasons. Along with the national chains, Sarvaiya said a state law that went into place July 1 signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the opioid excise tax didn’t help either.

“We were going to lose a lot of business due to that. That had a lot to do with the decision too,” he said.

A sign stating the former Falconer Pharmacy has closed at 202 W. Main St., Falconer. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

“Also, reimbursements by insurance companies on certain prescriptions, we were losing money on. It was hard to keep business when you’re losing money on prescriptions.”

Sarvaiya said he would like to thank his loyal customers for their support.

“I would sincerely like to thank the customers and employees for the service provided to the community and hopefully they appreciated it. The employees and I certainly appreciated it,” he said. “I would like to thank them for their support. Hopefully, down the road, I can serve them again.”

Sarvaiya said he has worked in an independent pharmacy since his father first purchased a business in Sherman in 1984.

“I tried to hang on as long as I could, but when there are 9,000 CVS stores and 9,800 Walgreens stores and I have two, it’s hard to do. Their buying power to buy large quantities of medication is greater than ours,” he said. “It’s said to see it end like this. It’s the way of the world. Corporations are making it hard for independents to survive. It was a tough decision. I feel sad it had to be this way.”