With Rite Aid buying out Smith Pharmacy and Economy Drugs closing, Island Drugs and Surgical, on Wantagh Avenue, is the last small, non-chain drugstore remaining in Levittown.

The arrival of a large chain store often affects the smaller stores in a community, which is why chambers of commerce are often fighting for the "Mom and Pop" stores, who seem to struggle under the shadow of larger businesses. At a Levittown Chamber of Commerce meeting in May, Gary Hudes, president of the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce, gave a speech on this subject entitled, "David Can Beat Goliath." Hudes told chamber members that the key to small businesses surviving in a world of big business depended on four words, "Friendly, Personal, Knowledgeable Service."

It is this personal service that makes Bruce Hosenbold, owner of the family-run Island Drugs and Surgical, confident that the arrival of Rite Aid Drugs in Levittown will not affect his business. According to Hosenbold his store offers many things that a chain such as Rite Aid may not carry such as home care and hospital equipment. They also accept assignment on diabetic supplies and inhalation medication as well as accepting workers compensation and no fault insurance. Most importantly though, according to Hosenbold, his store offers personal service.

"You go into a chain, they can't establish any personal contacts with you because they [the salespeople] are not going to be there the next week. They are moving from one store to another. When people come into my store they know who I am. They ask for me and I know everybody by their first name."

Hosenbold believes this personal service is what keeps the children of longtime customers coming back even after they get married and former Levittown residents, who have since moved away to places such as Florida, asking him to send them their medications. He said, "It's the personal contact. All questions are answered. Nobody leaves not satisfied." Hosenbold added, "A chain's business is built on quantity, not quality. We take care of the person. In a chain they tell you to come back in two or three hours but here you get our immediate attention. We're here to help you." Hosenbold explained that this personal attention is very important in a pharmacy because since he knows all his customers he knows what their medications are and can warn them if any new medications could have a bad interaction with what they are taking.

It is this knowledgeable, personal service that Hosenbold believes is missing from the chains. He said that he has been approached over the years by different chains seeking to buy Island Drugs and Surgical, which he has owned for 16 years and has been in the community for over 40 years, but that he doesn't want to work for a chain. He said, "I feel if I work for someone else it's not the same, you don't get the same feeling." He added that he would not get the same feeling of helping people if he worked for someone else so he plans to stay independent.

When asked if he was nervous when he heard that Rite Aid Drugs, who are opening up an 11,180 square foot store this summer, had bought Smith Pharmacy on Hempstead Turnpike and that he was the last remaining non-chain drugstore, he stated, "No, it doesn't make me nervous at all. It's unfortunate that all the independents are gone but it's not the chains that are doing it. It's the reimbursement from the insurance companies." He said that it is not the chains that are putting the smaller drug stores out of business but the fact that pharmacies get such low reimbursement from the insurance companies. Many people, according to Hosenbold, believe that a larger store can offer better prices but this, he says, is not true. He said that his prices are competitive.

Allison Costello, a spokesperson for Rite Aid Drugs spoke of these same difficulties in profitability of pharmacies because of the insurance companies when explaining how they came to buy Smith Pharmacy. She stated that what Rite Aid has done to counteract the low reimbursement from the insurance companies has been to build larger stores with more front end merchandise, such as milk and bread, etc.

When asked if Rite Aid had any plans to buy any other stores in Levittown Costello replied, "At this point it doesn't look like we have anything on the burner plate."

Hosenbold has no intention of selling, even if he is approached. He also does not plan to make any changes because of the addition of Rite Aid in the community. He said that everything that he does and the services he offers is working well for the store. He stressed that his store can offer many things, such as personal, knowledgeable, and friendly service that a chain cannot and suggested, "Choose your pharmacy as you would your physician."