New pharmacy opens in Price Cutter

Michael LeMasters, one of the three owners of Key Pharmacy located in the Price Cutter supermarket on Venture Drive at Pierpont Centre, said the new pharmacy is already meeting pent-up demand from grocery shoppers looking for one-stop convenience.

“It’s been a lot of work,” said LeMasters, whose other pharmacies include Pierpont Landing Pharmacy in Morgantown, Preston Family Pharmacy in Kingwood, Belldina’s Pharmacy in Masontown, Champion Pharmacy and Wellness in Bridgeport, and will open its sixth pharmacy in Bruceton Mills on Morgantown by fall, he said. Overall, LeMasters and his partners employ 27 people.

“We threw a lot of names around and Key stuck,” he said. “We unlock your wellness.”

For LeMasters and his business partners – all of whom are pharmacists – their latest venture, Key Pharmacy, is their first store inside a store. Key, a separate business with different owners, replaced American RX Pharmacy whose previous owner is in federal prison for conspiring to distribute oxycodone pills in
Monongalia County and southwest Pennsylvania.

“This pharmacy is brand new and has no ties to the former location,” said LeMasters, who was approached by the owner of Price Cutter to open a pharmacy inside the store.

Unlike standalone or chain pharmacies, LeMasters said Key – which opened June 22 — and its sibling locations pride themselves with being hands-on with their customers. Key has a consultation room where pharmacists Jamie White and Anne Jiang meet with clients to explain how the medication works.

“I am a social person,” said White, who has worked with LeMasters at his other locations for several years. “I want to make a difference.”

Unlike with his other locations, LeMasters has built-in clientele at Key, the store shoppers.

“It’s a different kind of patient population,” he said. “They are people who are going for convenience. It’s a one-stop shop.”

Besides prescriptions, White said they can flavor medicine for children as long as it is a prescription. Key also sells medical equipment such as crutches and also has naloxone and will also offer flu and shingles shots.

Key is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.