The widely anticipated move of Main Street fixture Varnum’s Pharmacy down the hill to where East Avenue meets Cherry Street likely is one month away, a clerk at the store tells us.
Dorrie Plotnick says Varnum’s will open in a newly renovated space with all new fixtures and additional products.
The move will happen over a weekend and customers will experience no down-time, she said.
Dorrie Plotnick says Varnum’s Pharmacy will occupy a completely renovated space after its move down to the corner of Cherry Street and East Avenue. Credit: Michael Dinan
“We wanted to remodel the store inside and it was a lot easier to sort of make a transition, rather than close the pharmacy down,” Plotnick said.
She added: “You can’t really close a pharmacy down. It’s not an easy thing to do. So we figured, renovate the space and then we can seamlessly move, without taking a day off.”
Here’s the new location of Main Street mainstay Varnum’s Pharmacy, at 44 East Ave. Customers of the pharmacy will have an easier trek to Cherry Street East for one of the best burgers around. Credit: Michael Dinan
The new location will place Varnum’s next to Goldenberry, a gift shop specializing in English dinnerware and treats that moved to New Canaan last summer after many years in Darien.
The move should bring better parking for Varnum’s customers, and though Plotnick says she’s eager to get into a space with a new carpet, she’ll miss the view of downtown through the front door.
As many New Canaanites no doubt will miss Varnum’s position on the corner next to the alley on Main (who else remembers its former neighbor on the other side, the Grand Central Market?)
Inside Varnum’s Pharmacy at 91 Main St. Credit: Michael Dinan
Plotnick said that Varnum’s is the longest continuously operating pharmacy in the nation. Established in 1854 in the same location as Cody’s pharmacy, the building itself remains in the Cody family. The business itself has been sold just three times since that pre-Civil War era, most recently about three years ago, she told NewCanaanite.com. Many New Canaanites smiled during the Varnum’s scene in 1997’s “The Ice Storm,” that pretty much nothing had to be adjusted inside to accommodate the 1973 setting, including the then-pharmacist’s sideburns.
Varnum’s is New Canaan’s last privately owned pharmacy. Lang’s on Elm Street closed two years ago.
Here are the medicine balls in the window at Varnum’s Pharmacy. Credit: Michael Dinan
Plotnick said she hopes some pieces of Varnum’s make the move to Cherry, including what she called two original medicine balls that remain hanging in the alley-facing window.
“I’m hoping at least get to them,” Plotnick said.