Wednesday, 3 February 2021
www.TheObserver.com
Vol. CXXXIII, No. 39
THIS WEEK IN SPORTS Belleville High School boys’ basketball team looks for a solid 2021 season. See Page 9
BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
BIG CHANGE IN SCRIPTS As ShopRite shuts down pharmacies, Midtown’s ready to take on new customers
By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com
W
ell, if you’re one of those people who likes to pick up your prescriptions after getting your Can-Can deals, things are changing for you if they haven’t already, because 62 ShopRite Pharmacies — including the ones in Kearny, Lyndhurst and Belleville — were to have closed at or around Feb. 2, according to Wakefern, the company that operates the supermarket chains. According to Wakefern, the prescription records of those who get their meds from Shoprite pharmacies were to be automatically sent to a near-by CVS. “All customer prescription files at closing store pharmacies will automatically and
Midtown Pharmacy, Kearny, and Belleville Phramacy, Belleville, are ready to take your ShopRite-based prescriptions. Simply give them a call and they’ll do the rest of the work.
securely transfer to a nearby CVS pharmacy, and we are notifying impacted customers,” Wakefern spokeswoman Karen O’Shea said in a written statement. “The pharmacy industry is highly competitive and we were unable to sustain sufficient sales despite our marketing efforts, which led to the difficult decision to close these store pharmacies.” Richard Tully, the owner of Kearny’s ShopRite, says that while seeing the pharmacy at his store was difficult to see, it may end up being beneficial in the long run. “We’re fortunate that we’ll be able to remerchandise the area,” Tully said. “The decision was corporate-based and I am sure it wasn’t an easy decision to make.” According to reports, pharmacists employed by ShopRite See MIDTOWN, Page 23
Santos displeased with ‘opaque’ vaccine-distribution process By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com
K
earny Mayor Alberto G. Santos (seen in photo to the right) is not happy with the way the COVID-19 vaccine is being distributed — and he says the
Town of Kearny certainly hasn’t gotten its fair share of it. In a social-media post Jan. 26, the mayor illustrated his frustration with a photo taken of a vaccination clinic that had been scheduled at Kearny High School. The photo showed the large room, with vaccine workers — and very
few patients. “A picture is worth a thousand words: this is the Kearny Health Department’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic today at the Kearny High School cafeteria,” Santos wrote. ‘We’ll vaccinate 100 persons See SANTOS, Page 19
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