Sag Harbor Village locals, some of whom have been picking up their pills, powders, creams and lotions at the venerable little apothecary on Main Street for their entire lives, will be heartened to know that the shop isn’t going anywhere.
Tarique Chaudhary, who has owned and operated the Sag Harbor Pharmacy since September 2021, announced that he has purchased the historic building that houses it at 120 Main Street. Chaudhary added that the business, which has operated as an independent pharmacy in one form or another since 1859, will continue to serve its customers for the foreseeable future, with no change to its day-to-day operations.
“By purchasing this space, we’ve made a commitment to continuing the legacy of our pharmacy that has served the Sag Harbor community for over 150 years,” he wrote in a social media post in early February. “We are proud to be a staple in Sag Harbor, and we intend to be here for many years to come.”
According to broker Lee Minetree of Saunders & Associates, the purchase price was $4 million with the trade closing on Jan. 11, 2024. The space includes a 2,300-square-foot main floor, a full basement and a second-floor residential apartment that measures about 1,300 square feet.
“We’ve had a tenant living upstairs for a long time, dating back to the previous landlord,” Chaudhary says. “We have no interest in booting her out. We just want to keep things status quo and not disrupt anybody’s life.”
Though he jokes that he’ll be forced to eat Ramen noodles for a while after making such a substantial investment in the building, Chaudhary is hardly your typical mom-and-pop drugstore owner.
In addition to Sag Harbor Pharmacy, Chaudhary also owns the Lighthouse Pharmacy in East Patchogue and is a part owner of Colonial Drugs in Greenport (where his group also owns the building), as well as pharmacies in Brooklyn and Queens.
Born and raised in Bellerose, Chaudhary has lived in Medford for the last 12 years. And while he generally only spends a day or two a week in Sag Harbor, he says the village is special to him — and he’s highly motivated to sustain a business there.
Whether making sure his upstairs tenant wasn’t disrupted by the sale or offering quick assurances to his customers about continuing the pharmacy’s legacy as a linchpin of downtown, Chaudhary seems particularly intent on inhabiting the role of the anti-carpetbagger.
“I know there were people interested in buying the building who wanted to change the neighborhood,” he says. “I don’t plan on leaving Sag Harbor anytime soon, so I didn’t want to give anyone the opportunity to run me out. I figured it would be best if I took over the building myself and maintained the legacy of Sag Harbor Pharmacy.”
Having originally bought the business around Labor Day in 2021, Chaudhary has had a chance to experience post-pandemic Sag Harbor in all of its seasons and permutations. And he finds a lot to like about the Village regardless of what the calendar says.
“Not everybody feels the same way, but I love downtown in the summertime. It’s a completely different vibe; the energy just engulfs the whole town,” he says, “But in the winter, you get to go to the chamber of commerce meetings, visit other local businesses and talk about your families.”
Chaudhary fully understands that unlike the village’s seasonal businesses, his pharmacy depends on year-round residents to sustain it.
“Sure, I love seeing all the celebrities in the summer,” he says with refreshing honesty. “But we try to prioritize year-round people. It’s the locals that get us through these tough winters in these vacation towns.”
“Just like we’ve done in Greenport, we want to cater to the school teachers, the firemen, the police officers,” he adds. ‘We want to take care of everybody who spends their day-in and day-out in Sag Harbor.”
Historically hostile to any attempt by the Walgreens or RiteAids of the world to set up an outpost on Main Street, the village relies on independent drugstores like White’s and Sag Harbor Pharmacy to meet its needs. Which is why Chaudhary feels he’s found a permanent home for his business.
“It’s a beautiful place,” he says of the village. “I’m honored to be a part of it.”
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