LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As more pharmacies close, many have now found themselves wondering where to get their medicine. The closures have even started to cause high demand for the pharmacies still open.
Last month Walgreens closed four of their pharmacy locations here in Central Arkansas, which has left customers looking for a new place to get their prescriptions filled.
Marlin and Lisa Green were Walgreens customers for 10 years— until their local North Little Rock pharmacy closed last month.
"What do you do, where do we go? How do we get what we need? And then that's kind of why I've just turned my back on Walgreens," Marlin Green explained.
"Pharmacy staff are also being pushed to their limits. And it's also really hard to be a patient right now if you can't get your care," Lisa Green added.
So Marlin transferred over to a local pharmacy and said he had a great experience.
"I went there one day just to transfer. And they said just a minute, we'll have it done. And they did it in five minutes," Marlin said.
However, it's not just Marlin. Many other customers have been flooding into local pharmacies.
Anne Pace with Kavanaugh Pharmacy has seen dozens of new customers just the in last few weeks.
"I mean, it is probably 500-fold versus a normal beginning of the year," Pace said, "I had someone walk in this morning and had a bottle and said 'I need to transfer but I only have two pills left, can you loan me a pill until you can transfer," she explained.
Pace still welcomes any new patient, but explained that she has been trying to hire more staff to keep up.
"I can only increase staff so much before I can't break even. I think [we] are just going to be used to it or they're going to have to expect longer lines at the pharmacy. Or longer lines to talk to people, which is not how we want to do it here. And so we are trying our very best to not have to do that," Pace said.
If you are still having trouble getting or transferring your medicine, she recommends you call a local pharmacy or your doctor.