pharmacy

Two companies are interested in potentially opening a pharmacy in Baker City, said Bryan Tweit, Baker County’s contracted economic development director.

Tweit said neither wants to be named at this point.

He said one interested party owns a chain of pharmacies.

Baker City has only one pharmacy now, in the Albertsons grocery store.

Two pharmacies have closed in the past several weeks — in the Safeway grocery store that closed in late May, and in the Rite Aid store that closed in early June.

Tweit said on Thursday, July 17, that both interested parties were aware of the recent pharmacy closures and see a potential opportunity to fill the void in Baker City.

He said neither is considering the Rite Aid location at 1217 Campbell St., as the 31,000-square-foot building, which is owned by Rite Aid, is larger than either needs for the standalone pharmacy they want to open.

Rite Aid’s pharmacy occupied only a small part of that building.

The Safeway building, just east of the former Rite Aid site, is even larger, at almost 36,000 square feet. Safeway owns the building.

Tweit said the two pharmacy companies are interested in opening in an existing building downtown. But a deterrent, he said, is the city’s development code, which prohibits drive-thrus in the central-commercial zone, which includes the downtown district, except for banks and other financial institutions.

Tweit said the businesses are also considering locations outside the central-commercial zone.

He said they are looking to open as soon as possible to take advantage of the two recent pharmacy closures, and both are interested in finding an existing building rather than the lengthier process of building a store.