Pharmacy owner sees expansion opportunities in move

Bruce Lefkowitz sits in a tiny office where his black chair smacks the back of his accountant's seat. There's no air conditioning, no windows - and no complaints.

Lefkowitz, the owner of Harrold's Pharmacy, swears he prefers it this way. Even cubicles offer more breathing room, but there's history here. His grandfather sat in this office and his father sat in this office. Now he's at the helm.

But the space problems at Harrold's Pharmacy aren't limited to Lefkowitz's office - there is limited parking, a small sales floor and an inefficient setup - and he knows it's time to move, even if it is just two blocks down Old River Road, to a venue more than twice the size.

"We've been at the same location for 65 years, so I didn't intend on moving," Lefkowitz said Wednesday. "But when I saw the steady growth we were going through, and that property became available, we thought maybe it was time."

Lefkowitz bought the Old River Road Bakery property in March for $50,000 and the sale was finalized Monday.

Lefkowitz's expansion goal hit a major milestone Wednesday. Wilkes-Barre's planning commission voted 4-0 to approve four variances with the property - such as allowing 52 parking spaces instead of the required 64 - so Lefkowitz can start rehabilitating the property within a month.

He hopes to open the new Harrold's Pharmacy, with a sales floor maybe triple or quadruple the current size, by early next year.

"I always see their delivery cars going throughout the city," city Councilwoman Maureen Lavelle said. "Wilkes-Barre is very lucky to have this, and I certainly hope it stays - and I think at this point it certainly will."

Lefkowitz grinned from his cluttered office Wednesday, leaning back in his chair when asked if he's ever thought about selling. The big chains send him a few letters a year, he said, but he's never thought about trading in the family-owned business for a beach house.

He said he instead turns to the foam board hanging near his black Dell computer every morning and looks at a photo of his father, thinking about the man who died in 2000 at 65. Two of his grandfather's old wooden pharmacy dolls - one operating a mortar and pestle in a white lab coat - sit on a shelf above his desk.

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Pharmacy owner sees expansion opportunities in move