Simpsons Pharmacy

About this Property

#Last Tenant

Simpson’s Pharmacy first opened in 1929. It was one of the few remaining family-owned pharmacies in the early 2020s. Another family-business, Howell Smith Pharmacy, closed after 82 years in 2019. And in Providence and Middletown, Greenline Apothecary closed early in 2025.

The family was unable to discuss the closure with customers beforehand, which left some distraught. “Contract restrictions did not allow us to announce until the end,” they told the Valley Breeze. Upon finding out, several customers posted online about how Simpson’s focused on customer service instead of corporate greed. One pointed out that this was the best place around for medical supplies and specialty equipment.¹

As detailed in numerous stories nationally, PBMs and brokers profit from negotiating drug prices, rebates, and commissions, often driving up insurance costs for patients and insurers and impacting access to medication.²

In the pharmaceutical industry, pharmacy benefit managers, otherwise knowns as PBMs, make big money by being the middlemen. Family pharmacy owners say some are making that money on the backs of their customers. For Chapel Pharmacy in Cumberland, they detailed how their PBM, Prime Therapeutics, changed how they would calculate reimbursement, resulting in low reimbursements that make the pharmacy little or nothing on filling a prescription.³

As an example, for a prescription that costs 75 cents, the pharmacy might be reimbursed 60 cents with no dispensing fee, no inclusion of the 15-cent cost of the label, container, or even the pharmacist’s time. A more expensive drug that might cost $500 per month was reimbursed at $470. Multiply this by hundreds of refills and it is no wonder smaller, low volume pharmacies can’t stay open.⁴

Architecture

That sign! Oh, what a lovely mid-century industrial-geometric style of letter with a shallow recess. Sigh. Love it.

The building itself is classic 1950s retail, with a concave storefront of mostly commercial glass, a central entrance, and a flat roof. A steel awning shields the façade and any customers entering. Exposed stone tiles flank either side while large lettering moves across the front atop the roofline. Its a wonderful example of the simplicity of mid-century commercial retail.

#Current Events

The property is one of a few for lease along Newport Avenue. As of summer 2025, the property is still vacant.

#History

The news story below details how the pharmacy opened in 1929 at the corner of Broadway and Exchange Street in Pawtucket. That location was razed in 1957 when the highway was cutting through the City. Around 2004, the pharmacy changed its format to offer fewer convenience items — like candy and soda and newspapers — and focus on hard-to-find speciality medical items, as well as custom medication preparation.⁵ They have been at this location since then until their closure in 2022.

#In the News

Simpson’s Pharmacy playing large role in COVID fight

by Ethan Shorey
Valley Breeze | March 16, 2021 (abridged)

The family-owned Simpson’s Pharmacy may be small in stature, but it’s playing an outsized role in the fight against COVID-19 thanks to a staff that’s working hard to vaccinate hard-to-reach populations.

Cheryl (Simpson) Stoukides, who runs Pawtucket’s last remaining family pharmacy at 10 Newport Ave., told The Valley Breeze last Friday that the pharmacy had administered Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to some 500 people over three weeks of operation. […]

Many people are walking in with neighbors, she said, and the staff is working with local doctors and health providers to locate more people to get vaccinated. So far, not one vaccine has been sent back, she said, in part because staff have scrambled to find people willing to be vaccinated.

One 101-year-old resident who couldn’t get out of her car even received her vaccine through her car window in the front parking lot, said Stoukides.

“Roll down the window, boom,” she said, smiling. […]

Other pharmacies were making the vaccine available early, she said, but they weren’t getting a state supply as Simpson’s is receiving. […]

— Accessed 06 October 2025 from https://www.valleybreeze.com/news/simpson-s-pharmacy-playing-large-role-in-covid-fight/article_1ed21479-e721-5dd4-b0ce-81be7c2ac041.html

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Simpson’s Pharmacy maintains niche, defies trends

by Ethan Shorey
Valley Breeze | July 16, 2019

The owners of Simpson’s Pharmacy know a thing or two about disruptive forces in business.

In the fall of 1957, Simpson’s opened its new store at 10 Newport Ave. after the space it had occupied for the previous 28 years, a city landmark building at the intersection of Broadway and Exchange Street, was torn down to make way for the Pawtucket River Bridge approaches and the advance of Route 95 through the city.

Numerous local pharmacies have been lost in the past year [Editor: and subsequent years following COVID], but today’s owners of Simpson’s, granddaughters of original owner Thomas Simpson, say they’ve found a niche and that they’re thriving and are in no danger of closing down themselves [Editor: Ironic].

Opened in 1929, Simpson’s Pharmacy is celebrating 90 years in business this year, planning some façade improvements to the front of the building that’s been its home for 62 years at the East Providence line. The pharmacy is located across the street from the Narragansett Park Plaza, which is being remade into a modern mixed-use development by the Carpionato Group, a project twin sister owners Cheryl Stoukides and Carol Smith say they’re excited to see transform what has long been a “dead, pigeon place.”

Many of the customers that previously patronized Howell Smith Pharmacy up the road tried out CVS after Howell closed this summer, said Simpson’s owners, but some patrons simply missed that “small independent pharmacy feel” and have since made their way to Simpson’s.

Walk in the front door of Simpson’s today and there’s very little indication of items such as school supplies and seasonal gifts of the past. Unlike some old-time pharmacies, where knick-knacks, gifts and food have played a strong emphasis, there are only a few items implying daily habits, including a few drinks and candy.

The money is in the medicine, said the owners, and Simpson’s also specializes in home medical equipment and medical supplies.

At any given time, this place is very busy, said Smith, and there are no gallons of milk, bouquets of flowers, New York Times bestsellers or household cleaning products to be found. Medicine is still sold over the counter, she said, but even that plays a secondary role to the company’s main products. As she spoke to The Breeze, a customer purchased a wheelchair. One of those sales of a “bread-and-butter” item, said Smith, brings a far greater profit than a few smaller “impulse” items found in a traditional drugstore.

“They’re not profitable,” she said.

Fifteen years ago, this place looked a lot different, said Smith, with cards, candy and other convenience items plentiful.

Even CVS is realizing the importance of focusing on specialty services and offerings, creating health hubs, she said.

Simpson’s emphasis is in giving people what they want in a way others aren’t, said Smith. If that means the service of specialized medical packing, that’s what they’ll do. If it means compounding medications for pets, a popular ask these days as people seek a mix of medications not commonly found, Simpson’s will do that.

“We’ve just created our own niche that no one else is doing,” said Smith.

There’s a significant referral base here, she said, but the company also does a lot of advertising. Many customers are walk-ins looking for “that item you can’t find anywhere else.”

Smith and Stoukides took over the business from their father, David, 15 years ago, both leaving good jobs in the medical field. Their children worked here as teenagers and later became pharmacists.

“We’ve done pretty well when you look at it,” said David Simpson, who still hangs out in the back and watches the company’s affairs.

There was a rumor going around for a while that Simpson’s would soon be following the demise of other drugstores, said Smith, but that just isn’t the case. The store is “absolutely feeling the pain” the rest of the industry has dealt with, she said, but not nearly to the same extent.

Simpson’s still has a truck on the road delivering to customers, she said, just as Thomas Simpson was doing 90 years ago.

— Accessed 06 October 2025 from https://www.valleybreeze.com/news/simpson-s-pharmacy-maintains-niche-defies-trends/article_6bcb5a76-1f6b-527e-bb7c-cfeddc59f49e.html