Colonial Pharmacy, New London’s 50-year-old pharmacy and variety store is moving from its current location in the New London Shopping Center and building its own new state-of-the-art facility one quarter-mile away on Newport Road. They are expected to be in their new location by Fall 2017.
Bill Faccone founded Colonial Pharmacy in 1967. It was originally located in the building now occupied by Hubert’s Family Outfitters, on the corner of Newport Road and County Road. In 1987, when the Cricenti family moved their grocery store (now Hannaford’s) into a new facility across the New London Shopping Center, Bill Faccone relocated to Cricenti’s former location which has been the home of Colonial Pharmacy until the present. Bill Faccone retired in 1990 and sold the business to employees Randy Doerr and Vern Bailey. In 2016, Vern sold his interest to Glenn Perreault who had been a pharmacist with Colonial since 1993.
Colonial Pharmacy is an essential shopping destination in the New London area. The current building is 12,000 square feet and, in addition to the pharmacy services and over-the-counter products, it offers a large selection of merchandise such as toys, housewares, clothing, stationery goods, small appliances and arts and crafts supplies. It’s been said locally, “If you can’t find it at Colonial, you probably don’t need it!” The new building will have 14,000 square feet adding specialty space in the pharmacy area for a compounding lab and a consultation room for immunizations, brace fittings, diabetic footwear and a drive-up.
At a time when small independent pharmacies struggle to compete with the larger chains, Colonial Pharmacy has found success by affiliating itself with HealthMart, a network of independent pharmacists, that negotiates with pharmaceutical companies to keep drug costs comparable to the chains and helps facilitate working with more than 300 insurance plans. Randy Doerr and Glenn Perreault believe it isn’t just about competing with the mail order services and chain pharmacies. Glenn says, “We take care of people here. When I get home at night, I know I’ve helped
our customers.”