Fay Pharmacy closing after 48 years

A cherished and important era for the town of Adair will come to a close Sept. 24 when Fay Pharmacy closes up shop for the last time.

The pharmacy, owned by Peter Fay and his wife DeElta, has been under their care since they purchased the former Gardiner Drug Jan. 1, 1978. They moved it to its current location at 400 Audubon St. five years later.

Fay said the pharmacy was in “sale mode,” but they ended up transitioning to “closing mode” when they weren’t able to find a buyer.

“With a business going out in a small town, I know it’s tough. But at a certain point, we have to do something,” Fay said. “It’s been a great ride. There have been a lot of changes over time, there’s no question about that.”

Fay was born and raised in Adair, graduating from Adair-Casey in 1968. He knew before graduating from high school that pharmacy was something that interested him.

Graduating from the University of Iowa’s College of Pharmacy in 1974, Fay worked in retail pharmacy at a variety of locations for three years before taking the plunge and purchasing what is now Fay Pharmacy.

Fay also recalls fondly the experiences gained and lessons learned about community pharmacy from his time as an intern in the summers of 1972 and ’73 at Murdy Drug on the Greenfield Public Square. It was owned by Gordon Murdy. He also interned at Gardiner Drug.

There have been numerous changes, as Fay said, in the past almost 50 years. One of them has been the advent of computers. Once a manual-type business or service, pharmacy has become a much more technology-driven industry.

On top of that, most patients were cash-paying when Fay Pharmacy opened. Now Fay says 90% of business is paid for by a third party, such as prescription companies.

There also used to be a considerable amount of general merchandise business the pharmacy did, and they would even hold monthly sales. Now large chain department stores in nearby towns have stripped these opportunities away from smaller “mom and pop” businesses.

“We tried to adapt to what worked for us and what would work for the community,” Fay said. “We wanted to look at it and ask what we could offer.”

One thing that hasn’t ever changed is that Fay Pharmacy’s focus has always been on its customers. Their records will be transferred to HyVee Pharmacy in Atlantic when they close.

“There are always challenges to running your own business,” Fay said. “One is allocating your time for business, family, church is important, and being able to balance all of that. But, it was all good, too.”

In 2020, Fay was the Iowa Pharmacy Association’s recipient of the prestigious Bowl of Hygeia. The award recognizes a pharmacist who has demonstrated a sustained commitment to community service.

In addition to his work as a pharmacist, Fay and his family value being a part of their community. They volunteered in the concession stand for many home football games at Adair-Casey, are involved at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and have cherished time with the community theater in Casey.

DeElta is a retired kindergarten teacher who taught for 32 years at Adair-Casey.

In 2016, their daughter Tiffany Fay came to work at the pharmacy with her parents.

Peter has held numerous other leadership positions in the community and greater area throughout his years in business.

When asked if moving back to this hometown to start an independent pharmacy paid off, Fay exclaims he thinks it did.

“I got to be with family a lot of the time and do things with them that we might have missed out on. We made a whole new set of lifelong friends over the years,” Fay said. “To be able to be involved in the community, it was a variety of things, but we didn’t do any of it for the recognition.

“We’re thankful for all the people who were so gracious to be our customers,” he added. “We’re very thankful for them. We always strived to do our best job.”