SHELBURNE FALLS — Citing financial difficulties, Baker Pharmacy, a fixture on Bridge Street since the mid-1800s, is set to close on Jan. 31.
While the pharmacy’s owner, Tobias Billups, could not be reached for comment, a note taped to the door of the business alerts customers that they will need to find a new pharmacy to fill their prescriptions beginning next week.
“Dearest patients and customers, after more than a century and a half of being a pillar of health care in the community, the Baker Pharmacy will be closing its doors for the last time on Saturday, Jan. 31,” the note reads. “Thank you for your support and business over the many years of our operation. We owe a great debt of gratitude to you.”
An earlier note on the door stated that the closure was due to “financial difficulties and circumstances beyond our control.”
A sign on the Baker Pharmacy door in Shelburne Falls indicating it is closing. Credit: PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo
The announcement has prompted community health care professionals to see if there might be any way to save the historic business. Dr. Allison van der Velden, who serves as executive director of the Community Health Center of Franklin County, said she was able to meet with Billups on Wednesday and found that the closure is intended to be temporary. According to van der Velden, Billups can only reopen if he is able to hire a new pharmacist to replace the current one, who is taking another job elsewhere.
“I left the conversation feeling really hopeful,” van der Velden said. “They are intending to reopen when they can find a new pharmacist. The state is very strict about pharmacy operations.”
In an email to van der Velden, Billups said he has faced financial challenges in running a small business with a limited customer base, but the ultimate driver of the closure was the need to find a new pharmacist.
While van der Velden said the Community Health Center is in discussions with Baker Pharmacy to see how it can assist in the search for a new pharmacist, there is currently no date or timeline for a potential reopening.
According to the Shelburne Historical Society, the pharmacy has been serving Shelburne Falls since 1853.
“Just prior to the Civil War, Dr. A.H. Taylor opened a drug dispensary there in connection with his medical office. The location has been a pharmacy ever since,” Mahalia Dean, Historical Society collections manager, wrote in an email. “In 1864, Edwin Baker started working as a drug clerk there under Dr. Taylor, and in 1867, he purchased the business and became the lead pharmacist. In 1870, he purchased the building itself. Of note, Baker’s wife, Emma Bannister Baker, of Leeds, England, was the first female registered pharmacist in Massachusetts.”
The local landmark, known to many in the village for its ice cream counter and freshly made milkshakes, has had several owners over the years: Eugene Benjamin, Harold Crosier, Charles Canedy and Winthrop “Bud” Anderson.
According to Dean, after Bud Anderson retired, his son Sam Anderson bought the business.
“Sam Anderson, who bought it from his dad and retired within the past few years — I don’t know the date — but he was my first boss when I worked at the Baker soda fountain. His father, Bud, was my mother’s first boss in that same position,” Dean recounted. “This loss will be felt by our whole community.”
Doug Harris is waited on by Kathy Jette at Baker Pharmacy in Shelburne Falls in December 2004. Credit: PETER MACDONALD / Staff File Photo
Other Shelburne Falls residents echoed Dean’s sentiments that the pharmacy’s closure will be a big loss for the community.
“It’s not just an inconvenience,” said Shelburne Falls native Sue Samoriski. “It’s a community disaster.”
Samoriski, born in 1946, said her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents all had their prescriptions filled at Baker Pharmacy. Growing up on Main Street in the 1950s meant frequent walks there to pick up medications, cards and other merchandise, or even just a frappe, which could be enjoyed in the booths that once lined the wall of the store.
“You could go in and order a frappe or a soda, and sit in the booth and enjoy it after school,” she reminisced.
Beth Vight makes a coffee frappe with ice cream and milk at the Baker Pharmacy ice cream counter in Shelburne Falls in 2024.
Not only could you find everything you needed at Baker Pharmacy, Samoriski said, but the service there was “unmatched.” Once, when her aunt was sick, the pharmacist at the time delivered her medications to her aunt’s house.
“They were so kind. That was such a blessing,” she said. “Baker Pharmacy has always been a very community-oriented business. That stands out in my mind as a key feature of Baker.”
Amanda Kingsley grew up in Colrain, but has now lived in Shelburne Falls for close to 30 years. She said she hopes a new pharmacist can keep the business alive.
Amanda Kingsley of Shelburne Falls said one of her favorite memories of Baker Pharmacy was going trick or treating in 2022 with her, at the time, third grader, who dressed as a dinosaur. Credit: CONTRIBUTED
“Baker’s, like Keystone [Market], has been a staple of our hilltowns for as long as I’ve been alive. It breaks my heart to think we won’t have a local pharmacy anymore,” Kingsley said. “In wishful thinking, I’d like to believe an angel pharmacist will swoop in and buy the business or use the storefront, but I completely understand that in times like these, it may not be sustainable, and we have to find ways to accept the changing of time and tradition.”
Kingsley said the employees have been incredible, and she has made plenty of good memories at the store over the years. Her favorite memory: trick or treating at the store in 2022 with her, at the time, third grader, who dressed as a dinosaur.
“I’ll remember and be grateful for all the times I went into Baker’s and was met with a side of kindness and community along with our family prescriptions,” Kingsley said.
The pharmacy was the only pharmacy in western Franklin County. Longtime customers said that with its closure, they will now need to drive an additional 15 miles to Greenfield to fill their prescriptions at Big Y, Stop & Shop, Walgreens or CVS, or even farther if they would like to remain with an independent pharmacy, such as Deerfield Pharmacy.
The Baker Pharmacy on Bridge Street in Shelburne Falls is closing. Credit: PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo
Samoriski said that with Baker Pharmacy closing, she will have to travel to Greenfield for medications, and while it is doable for her, she feels sympathetic for those without reliable transportation and those who live farther into the hilltowns.
“I feel sorry for the people in the hilltowns who are going to have to drive 20 miles to Greenfield,” Samoriski said. “I hope a solution will be found and it can be saved.”
“It’s my fervent hope that they’re gonna be able to figure something out,” agreed Buckland resident Phoebe Walker, who serves as director of community health at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments. “Because that will be really crippling to this region and its population to lose that pharmacy.”
Van der Velden said Billups is “deeply interested” in keeping the pharmacy open, and they are looking for ways to collaborate. At this time, she cannot speak to what these potential collaborations could look like as they are still brainstorming, but she said the pharmacy is an important part of health care in western Franklin County and she will do whatever she can to support keeping it open, even if it is not one of the health center’s sites.
She added that in the meantime, the Community Health Center should be able to assist patients who are seeking to fill their prescriptions, and for those who are already patients of the center, the process should be relatively easy. However, she noted it may not be the easiest or most accessible option for residents of western Franklin County, as the Community Health Center’s pharmacy is housed at its location in Orange. The center also offers medication delivery by mail.
“It’s a really important access point,” van der Velden said. “We will do whatever we can to support this resource. We understand how important pharmacy access is.”