Like the passing of an old friend, La Jolla residents who\u2019ve treasured mom-and-pop Burns Drugs for the past 62 years are mourning the loss of yet another Village bedrock business.
\nThe family-owned pharmacy, at 7824 Girard Ave., announced recently it would be shuttering for good May 31 due to owner Wayne Woods\u2019 pending retirement and declining business following the 2008 recession.
\nApril 15 was the last day of operation for the pharmacy, which will be transferring its business \u2014 and some of its employees \u2014 to CVS Pharmacy, at 7525 Eads Ave. The rest of the store will remain open to sell off inventory.
\n“It\u2019s a huge loss for our community, another end of an era,” said Tim Lucas, president of La Jolla Shores Association (LJSA) at the group\u2019s April meeting.
\nNoting Burns has been far more than just another business, Lucas added, “It\u2019s been a huge institution, a great place in our community that started in 1952 and was so important to a lot of us, not only for getting our prescriptions filled but for (medical) advice and other things.”
\nA colleague of Lucas’ on LJSA, Janie Emerson, said it will be impossible to replace the homespun store\u2019s “personal” touch, citing her own example.
\n“My husband had an emergency appendectomy last summer, and he got an abscess (the doctors didn\u2019t pay any attention), and if it hadn\u2019t have been for Wayne (Woods) and one of the other pharmacists working with me \u2026 I don\u2019t think he would have made it. It\u2019s a huge loss to the community. No other pharmacy would have done what we needed last summer. I feel like people are ripping pieces of La Jolla out of me by inches. It\u2019s so sad.”
\nClaude-Anthony Marengo, president of La Jolla Village Merchants Association (LJVMA), the community’s Business Improvement District (BID) concurred that news of Burns demise was “very sad for all of us.”
\nMarengo recalled that Burns and nearby Rexall pharmacies were part of his and others’ childhoods. “We’d get candy in one, and as soon as we got kicked out, we went to the other one. Then later, we would go down to Children’s Pool (for a swim),” he said.
\n“For a long time Burns was a part of the fabric of La Jolla,” Marengo said. “We’re going to miss that.”
\nCindy Greatrex, immediate past president of La Jolla Town Council, agreed that Burns was like family and, once gone, can never be replaced.
\n“Burns Drugs was a true classic with every trace of local character,” she said, adding that the pharmacy was “personality-driven and always kind and caring to residents and visitors alike.”
\nShe said she\u2019ll always remember the pharmacy for how its presence “flavored” the town, recalling, “It was a welcome respite on a warm day of strolling the Village, especially for pet owners, who always received such a kind welcome and a little treat. We will miss our long-term staff friends at Burns and hope to see them again.”
\nDiver and longtime La Jollan Bill Robbins said Burns was especially good with seniors.
\n“When my mother retired, they gook great care of her prescriptions,” he said. “It even got to the point where Burns would know when she needed a refill (they kept such good records) and faithfully deliver them to her. There\u2019s simply no way any other pharmacy would have taken care of it like that.”
\nRobbins also expressed concern for the future welfare of Burns\u2019 staff of more than 30 workers, some of whom are seniors working part-time.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like the passing of an old friend, La Jolla residents who\u2019ve treasured mom-and-pop Burns Drugs for the past 62 years are mourning the loss of yet another Village bedrock business. The family-owned pharmacy, at 7824 Girard Ave., announced recently it would be shuttering for good May 31 due to owner Wayne Woods\u2019 pending retirement and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":277293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Long, historic chapter in La Jolla lore ends with closure of Burns Drugs","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}