Recent Closings: Wyckoff’s Corner Pharmacy, Copy Cottage, Visions Of Park Slope
COBBLE HILL/PARK SLOPE – A couple of readers wrote in earlier this week to inform us that their beloved neighborhood pharmacy, Wyckoff’s Corner Pharmacy, abruptly closed over the weekend.
“On Wednesday I called in a prescription,” said David who traveled from Kensington to have his medication refilled by the shop’s friendly pharmacists. “On Friday the store was boarded up, its shelves empty and a sign on the door directed customers to the local CVS.”
BKLYNER called the CVS located two blocks north at 150 Court Street, but the pharmacist there did not know why the smaller shop closed.
The New York Times profiled Wyckoff’s Corner Pharmacy’s owners, Bassam (Sam) Amin and John Capotorto in 2016. Amin, who previously worked for a chain pharmacy, opened up his own business in Cobble Hill in 2006. He moved to a larger space one block away at 203 Court Street in 2012 when he enlisted Capotorto, who had previously run his own local shop.
Neighbors are disappointed by the pharmacy’s sudden closure and will miss the staff and personal service. “They were the sort of people you could talk to about your medications and potential problems,” Laura wrote in an email, “and who many [of us] had long-standing relationships with.”
BKLYNER was able to reach Amin over the phone Friday morning but he was busy working at a flu shot clinic. He is also sad about his store’s closing but said that it was no longer “profitable,” adding that the business had endured a “gradual erosion of margins.”
He agreed to speak in more detail next week. We will update once we have further information.
Nearby at 249 Smith Street, Copy Cottage will be closing in November after 13 years, Pardon Me For Asking reports.
Along with printing services, the shop sells packing supplies and stamps, provides P.O. boxes, and conveniently has an on-site notary public, however in recent years, neighbors have primarily used the location as a drop-off point for shipping packages.
Further east, optometry shop Visions of Park Slope shuttered on September 20th after 27 years at 180 Lincoln Place, Brooklyn Paper reports.
The shop’s owner, Robert Zimmerman, said that business had waned due to competition from chain stores and online outlets.