RAVENNA, Ohio — As major pharmacy chains continue shuttering locations across Ohio and the country, a new independent pharmacy business in Northeast Ohio is expanding into communities left without prescription services.
Elite Pharmacy opened its fifth location on Monday in Ravenna, taking over the old Speidels Medical Arts Pharmacy at 693 N Chestnut St. Jacob Sweet and Daniel Jones launched the company in 2022 and recently also opened a store in East Palestine in October — the only pharmacy serving that area.
"The next closest pharmacy is in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, [which is] 9.8 miles away," said Jacob Sweet, co-owner of Elite Pharmacy.
The expansion comes as Ohio faces a pharmacy crisis.
Data from the Ohio Board of Pharmacy shows that last year, 223 pharmacies closed statewide, nearly double any other year in the past decade.
Nearly one out of every 10 pharmacies in Ohio closed just last year.
Sweet said Elite Pharmacy targets communities where other pharmacies have closed or never existed.
RELATED: Live near a pharmacy that just closed? OSU study says health can decline following closure
Their location in Garrettsville saw a spike when nearby Rite Aid closed in 2024.
"Garrettsville, we tripled overnight, and we're the only pharmacy in nine miles," Sweet said. "We go into these places, they may have lost their pharmacy, or there's never been a pharmacy."
These kinds of closures from companies such as CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid have created what experts call "pharmacy deserts" — communities without local prescription pickup options.
RELATED: Medication desert: Ohio has a growing pharmacy access problem as large chains abandon the state
News 5 reported on the rise of pharmacy deserts earlier this year — watch that report below:
"Independent pharmacies, specifically, is a dying breed," Sweet said.
Elite Pharmacy differentiates itself by offering services beyond basic prescription filling, including free delivery and customizing medications such as through compounding.
"If you're just filling prescriptions in today's world, you won't exist very long," Sweet said. "So you have grandma who is on the older side and in hospice, and she can't swallow things by mouth. We can put her medicines in cream that somebody can apply."
Going forward, Sweet told News 5 he hopes to see movement at the state level to help ensure that pharmacies can continue to survive in the state.
"If they don't fix things soon, it's going to get worse," he said. "Health care is broken in America. We got to fix it. Greatest country on Earth and our health care is no good."
Clay LePard is the Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @ClayLePard, on Facebook ClayLePardTV or email him at Clay.LePard@wews.com.
