THE MOST UNUSUAL THING about Green Line Apothecary LLC isn’t its vintage soda fountain, complete with non-medicinal beverages, such as lime rickeys that recall the 1940s.
Instead, it’s the independent status of the full-service pharmacy. The family-owned operation, which recently expanded into a second location in Rhode Island, has made a business plan of competing against the large, corporate-owned retail pharmacies that cover the state, region and nation.
Opened by Ken and Christina Procaccianti, Green Line got its start in 2016. They launched the first Green Line Apothecary in the South Kingstown village of Wakefield. This year, they opened a second store on North Main Street, on the East Side of Providence.
Along the way, the couple has hired several dozen part-time and full-time workers. They now employ 50 people and several teams of pharmacists. The pharmacy offers same-day delivery of prescription medications, via a restored Chevy from the late 1940s.
The vintage references underscore an approach to business. The pharmacy and its owners want to become a community resource for residents, a position that used to be held by neighborhood pharmacies.
The older customers remember what the soda fountains and pharmacies were in the 1940s through the 1970s. Soda fountains began when scientists believed carbonated water was a health tonic – and the soda fountain inside the pharmacy was the result.
Ken Procaccianti said he loves seeing older customers explaining to their grandchildren what the ice cream and soda counter is doing in the middle of a pharmacy. “You can hear the grandparent tell the grandchild how important the soda fountain was during their youth.”
In fact, the idea for a 1940s-era pharmacy and integrated soda fountain came from Christina, who as a child accompanied her father, a greeting card salesman, into “mom and pop” pharmacies throughout New Jersey. “She fell in love with the idea of opening” her own, said Ken.
Christina later became a pharmacist. She and Ken named the business after the Boston transit system’s Green Line, where they met on a train.
Their business features some nostalgia, but it isn’t based on it. The company has grown because customers are responding to the service and competitive prices for medications, Ken Procaccianti said.
One of the biggest surprises for new customers is Green Line’s prices on prescription medications, he said. The business goes out of its way to find cost-saving solutions for customers, including rebates and coupons. It has agreements with the same insurers as the larger retail pharmacies, he said.
“There is a big misnomer that you have to pay big to shop small,” he said. “That is certainly not the case when it comes to pharmacy. We spend a lot of time educating consumers on the fact that their copay is the same no matter which pharmacy they go to.”
OWNERS: Ken and ChristinaProcaccianti
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Pharmacy
ADDRESS: 905 N. Main St., Providence and 203 Main St., South Kingstown
EMPLOYEES: 52
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2016
ANNUAL SALES: WND
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.