Familiar face back in business at Greenport Drugs on Main Road
Fifteen years after selling his Front Street business, Lester Eisenberg is once again back at the helm of a Greenport pharmacy.
Mr. Eisenberg, former co-owner of Colonial Drugs & Surgicals on Front Street, opened Greenport Drugs on Main Road in September.
“I’m back to service the community I’ve grown so fond of,” he said. “It’s a very, very nice homecoming — kind of a warm, gushy feeling. I appreciate it very much.”
Mr. Eisenberg, 69, said he hopes to provide many of the same services available at his former business, with some expanded offerings. These includes a 24-hour emergency service hotline — allowing customers to call and place orders even when the store is closed — and a free prescription delivery service to homes across the North Fork.
Greenport Drugs is also stocked with specialized pharmaceuticals, vitamins and surgicals as well as products to meet ostomy, diabetic and first aid needs, Mr. Eisenberg said. Natural, ethnic and homeopathic products are also available, he said, and inventory will expand as time goes on.
Another goal is to get people in and out, with the correct medicine in hand, as quickly as possible, focusing on helping those in pain and those with screaming children first, he said with a laugh. Should customers have to wait, coffee, snacks and seating are available.
“I love interacting with the people,” the Southold resident said. “Being out here over 30 years, I know most medical carriers and have a rapport with the doctors. I’d never, ever, let someone be without the medication they need.”
He said his store accepts about 95 percent of insurance carriers.
Mr. Eisenberg had planned to retire after he and former partner Miles Schneider sold Colonial Drugs & Surgicals in 2002 after nearly 20 years. But after realizing he wasn’t able to sit still and retained a love for the business, he accepted jobs at pharmacies in Brooklyn and then spent six years with Mr. Schneider at Cutchogue Drug Store before spotting a for sale sign in his current building.
He chose the name because he wanted something simple that people could remember, something that lets customers know it’s an “All-American drugstore.”
“It’s a pleasure to serve this community,” he said. “And I hope to become a fixture in the town again.”
