Fairhaven Pharmacy closing after 126 years in business

Fairhaven Pharmacy, a landmark local business that has been around for 126 years, is closing its doors.

Longtime owner Rob Johansen announced he was retiring and made Tuesday, Oct. 20, the last day of business for the pharmacy, which is at 1115 Harris Ave. Johansen, 68, has been a pharmacist there for 45 years, having owned the business since 1991. He had been looking for a younger pharmacist to potentially take over the business, but was unsuccessful.

“Financially it is almost impossible to run an independent pharmacy,” because of the way the health care system currently operates, he said. “It’s a frustrating field to be in right now.”

For customers of Fairhaven Pharmacy, prescriptions were transferred to the new Walgreens pharmacy at 125 S. Samish Way. That pharmacy opened Friday, Oct. 9.

The building was sold in August to Dean and Mary Brett. Dean Brett, a Bellingham attorney, said they plan on keeping the unique exterior as well as Gordon Tweit;’s historical archives available in the downstairs portion of the building, which is typically open on Fridays. The upstairs will have an as-yet-unannounced new tenant.

Tweit was the previous owner of the pharmacy, selling it to Johansen in 1991 after operating it for 29 years.

Dean Brett said the plan is to contact the Whatcom Museum to see if it wants to take over the archives, but for now they will remain in place. The archives include plenty of local history, including books, photo binders, yearbooks and city directories.

The business became beloved by many local residents, who went there for more than filling medicine prescriptions. Perhaps the most lasting memories of the pharmacy will revolve around Halloween, when longtime owner Tweit would take photos of children in their costumes for free from the mid-1960s until a few years ago, when Johansen took over the event.

After hearing that the pharmacy was closing, the Historic Fairhaven Association quickly organized a plan to keep the Halloween photo tradition going this year, said John Servais, vice president of the organization. The organization has hired Oh Snap! Event Photo Booth of Lynden to take pictures of the children in costumes in the Finnegan’s Alley area, with pictures immediately available for free.

“We felt we couldn’t let that tradition go away; it is close to the hearts of so many,” Servais said.

Whatcom County resident Katee Wowk fondly remembers those Halloween photos, particularly one year when Tweit dressed up in a vampire suit, snapping pictures. She also remembers a time around 1968 when she had a terrible cough and her husband woke Tweit up at 2 a.m. to ask if he could open the pharmacy so she could get some medicine.

“He didn’t even think twice about it,” Wowk said, adding she still remembers that moment well more than 45 years later.

That customer service is remembered by many. Jan Polen moved to the Fairhaven area in 1974 and said her best memories of the pharmacy revolve around the people who worked there and how she could always talk to someone.

“I went there once when my dog’s paw was hurt and they were able to tell me the best bandages to wrap it,” Polen said. “This (closure) is going to be a big loss to the community.”

The current industry structure makes it very difficult for independent pharmacies. Johansen estimates that 90 percent of his business is based on prescriptions, with 10 percent of sales coming from the retail portion of the business, such as candy, souvenirs and gifts. He estimates a chain pharmacy tends to do about 10 percent of its sales on prescriptions with the rest coming from retail store sales.

In the last decade Johansen said it’s been difficult to get much of a reimbursement on prescriptions because insurance companies have more control in setting prices.

The business was established in 1889 as D.P. Mason Drug and soon evolved into Fairhaven Pharmacy. It was in a couple of south Bellingham locations before settling in at its current home in 1929.

The pharmacy also has a tradition of delivery boys becoming longtime pharmacists to run the business. According to a 2007 article in The Bellingham Herald, Fairhaven Pharmacy has been owned by four generations of delivery boys. George Finnegan was hired as a delivery boy in the 1890s, Rene LaCasse around 1912 and Gordon Tweit in 1941. Tweit owned the business from 1962 until 1991, when he sold it to Johansen, who also got his start as a delivery boy.

This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 5:19 PM with the headline "Fairhaven Pharmacy closing after 126 years in business."