Your One Stop Med Shop

Want your prescription medicines on your doorstep for free? Look no further. The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in Edwardsville boasts, among many other attributes, free delivery. No, the medicine isn't free, but doorstep delivery is.

Free delivery is one of the many ways in which owner, Ted Thalmann, strives to help his customers each day. For those who have never heard of The Medicine Shoppe, it's a quaint building connected to the north end of the more renowned Market Basket.

Thalmann has owned and operated the pharmacy for five years. His wife, Vicki Thalmann, RN, co-owns the shop with him. The dynamic wedded duo of pharmacist and registered nurse creates a very helpful environment to both young and old in all pharmaceutical endeavors.

"Our main flow of customers are seniors, but we do also service many young families in the area," Thalmann said.

Although Edwardsville has several bigger name pharmacies available to the public, Thalmann believes that a privately owned pharmacy can offer more personal service to the customer.

"We know almost all of our customers by name. We believe here that a good pharmacy develops solid relationships with its customers because what we do here is an important element in our customers lives," Thalmann said.

Long time customer Evelyn Schumacher agrees.

"We've been coming here ever since Ted opened up. He's a great guy and is very good at what he does. We know we can trust him with our medicine and that's what is important," Schumacher said.

The daily grind at the pharmacy can vary day to day. Mondays are usually the busiest. Hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Mondays catch the overflow of the short day on Saturday and off day of Sunday.

Linda Weiler has worked for Thalmann since he opened the store and has been a pharmacy technician for 23 years. Her biggest responsibility involves processing all billing. The shop allows its customers to set up charge accounts for those who have a significant amount of monthly prescriptions.

Among the many customers that require a large amount of medicines are nursing home patients. The Medicine Shoppe services all of the area nursing home facilities with prescriptions that are packaged and ready for the nurses dispensing at the homes. The shop also delivers the medicines to the homes-free of charge. Patients in homes can be set up on charge accounts in order to remove confusion from those taking care of their loved ones.

The Medicine Shoppe also serves many hospice patients with its free delivery. The hospice will call prescriptions directly into the pharmacy and the shop will subsequently deliver the prescriptions promptly.

If you have any questions about the Medicine Shoppe, you can call them during business hours at 618-692-4441, fax at 618-692-4415, or stop by at 447 S. Buchanan St. located adjacent to Market Basket.