Following their sudden closure on Christmas Eve, both locations of Medical Pharmacy West have been purchased for a combined $1.7 million; the original location near Lane Regional Medical Center has been purchased by the hospital for $975,000, and the West location has been purchased by EIMA Investments for $750,000.

Pharmacist Collin Stagg will be leasing the building from EIMA to open his own pharmacy, Hometown Pharmacy. Both former phone numbers for the locations now route to a voicemail announcing the new business. Stagg is working on licensure, credentials and insurance contracting, and hopes to open the doors of the former West location sometime in May. He plans to start as the solo pharmacist until he is able to build back some of the business that Medical Pharmacy West had before its sudden closure on January 2.

Stagg, the grandson of Johnny LeTard who started Medical Pharmacy more than 50 years ago, worked at his grandfather's location for several years after pharmacy school, then went on to Central Pharmacy after LeTard's passing. "I'm looking forward to coming back, serving the community, and providing a locally owned retail pharmacy to continue my grandfather's legacy of taking care of the people of Zachary," Stagg says.

Lane Regional Medical Center bought Medical Pharmacy on the corner of West Park Drive and Main Street. "It was the last remaining parcel of Lane's campus that the hospital didn't own," says Lane's Director of Marketing Julie McLin. While Lane operates a retail pharmacy inside the hospital, there is no confirmation yet on whether that location will move to the larger location on frontage, or the shuttered pharmacy will become something else entirely.

Either way, the people of Zachary rejoice!