PharmaCare Pharmacy

Some of the staff a very pleasant and helpful but the guy who works on the front desk is very rude and in need of customer care training. I am switching because I can’t take his attitude anymore.

This was my go-​to pharmacy for a while but as these hours are incredibly inconvenient — arrived on a Saturday at 5:30 one time thinking I’d have at least until 9, and they were closed. I’ve unfortunately had to transfer my prescriptions back to another pharmacy I hate located near me in Brooklyn. This location really needs to provide weekend service, you know, that time that everyone has off work — a pharmacy that’s closed on Sunday in NYC? Even the Polish-​Catholic laundromat down the street from me is open longer /​better hours, including Sunday. C’mon.

I’m sorry, a pharmacy that closes at 5pm Saturday, and is closed Sunday when I needed a prescription filled on the Sunday, is not a good pharmacy. There are tons of people out of work, there’s no reason you couldn’t staff it on a weekend at least til 6pm and at least partly on Sunday.

I have had great experiences every time I walk into Careplus. The staff is very friendly. They’re also especially speedy with prescriptions if they know you’re going to wait. I remember having to pick up a shopping bag full of meds for my then new bf and not having all the details required to pick them up. One guy threw me a bone with the month and then I picked it out of my cell phone calendar. I was also just in there to fill prescriptions related to my dental work. The woman was asking me questions and I just responded «mm hmm» because I wouldn’t speak. Then, with a smile, she says «Did you get some teeth pulled?» I loved that she could figure out exactly what was going on. It also seems like they get a lot of referrals from Callen-​Lorde, which is a big plus for me.

Oh Pharmacare, your name is CarePlus now.
I visit you once a month to pick up my drugs and here’s what I know: You have a lovely selection of things that «normal» drugstores do not. You’re like the Whole Foods of drug stores. Despite it being marginally nicer and having a better quality of goods, you just can’t shake that corporate chain feel. However, this isn’t the place where you go to pick up toilet paper, chips, and sundries. If you need plastic shot glasses, holiday candy, a toaster and a mop along with your ‘script you’re better off at DR or a regular CVS. If you need fancy soap, vitamins, and better quality personal care products you’re in the right place.
The only bummer is the staff is hit or miss. There’s one clerk that makes me sigh every time I see him because he’s always a jerk to me. However, the ladies that have been there on the weekends lately? Awesome and sweet.

PharmaCare is a lovely store with an array of homeopathic remedies, aromatherapy candles, nutritional supplements, regular OTC drugs and of course, the hardcore prescription shit. They have such nice window displays (for a drug store) and obviously help a lot of HIVlanders and AIDSters that you are actually walking inside a good sumeritan when you pass through the doors. I admit: I’m always curious what kind of degenerative disease, disgusting infection, or mental instability each customer might be suffering from when they queue up at the back pharmacy counter.
HEAD VOICE: Does she have heppy C? Is he suffering from an acute case of VagMono? Will she live through a near fatal case of pregnancy? Will this medication’s side effects give me the breasts I so richly desire or turn me into a Puerto Rican?
Such things are valid queries to ask the helpful staff. (Actually I don’t know if they’re that helpful because I don’t talk to the help). But there is a cute guy who works there, if that’s any consolation, and it should be, because, as you know, people with diseases will never find love.

You wouldn’t know that this is a CVS given the exterior. You wouldn’t know that this is a CVS given the interior. In fact, you might not know that this is a CVS until you go to the checkout and see the logo on the debit and credit card machine — or on your receipt as you leave.
My eyes are dry and red today, so I was on the hunt for some eye drops. (I picked up some Visine Advanced Relief, and my eyes are much better; thanks for asking.) The store is open, airy, well lit — and the shelves of products feel almost clothing store in their organization and neatness.
As I was scanning the shelves for eye drops, a fellow came up and asked if I needed help. He helped me pick out the best eye drops. And then I checked out.
Quick, easy — and a well-​lit place for pharmaceuticals. Not your average CVS.