FARMINGTON — Easy access to the new independent pharmacy, Mt. Blue Drug, has customers stopping in to the Wilton Road store which opened Thursday.

“A lot of people, not from the area, are buying over-the-counter items,” Jason Pratt, pharmacist, said Tuesday.  “They’ve caught on that we’re easier to access.”

The store is in the former Movie Gallery building in the Mt. Blue Shopping Center off Routes 2 and 4, also known as Wilton Road.

Pharmacist Kevin Holland, who owns and runs Variety Drug, an independent family-owned business that opened in 1938 in Skowhegan, wanted to expand, Pratt said.

Holland and Pratt, a Farmington native who worked at the Skowhegan store for more than eight years, discussed opportunities here but couldn’t settle on a good location until the movie rental building opened up, Pratt said.

Pratt said he feels fortunate to have the opportunity to work in his hometown again and glad that Farmington has an independent pharmacy again.

“It takes courage to expand,” he said, because there are other large chain pharmacies in town and Walmart across the road.

The location has easy access, plenty of parking and is highly visible, he said. It’s also near the Franklin Memorial Hospital, making an easy stop for patients seen there.

Prescriptions can easily be transferred with Pratt, pharmacist tech Paula Smith, and a third employee, TJ LeClair, he said. Prices are competitive to the chain pharmacies, he said.

“We’re interested, first, in people’s health but also in helping customers save money,” he said.

Pratt and Smith each have experience working for both independent and  chain pharmacies. Each worked for Jim and Rob Witt at Howard’s Rexall in downtown Farmington. Each was born and raised here.

As Pratt greets a customer by name, he recounts his familiarity with the town he grew up in and the people he knows here.

He graduated in 1987 from Mt. Blue High School and then from the University of Maine at Farmington with a degree in math, he said. After working in Philadelphia, he wanted to return to Maine, he said.

He returned to Farmington and took a job as a pharmacist technician with the Witt brothers who encouraged him to go on to pharmacy school, he said. After earning a degree, he worked in some larger chain pharmacies before joining the Skowhegan store.

The new pharmacy carries a variety of items, including cards. More merchandise is expected to fill the space and hours may change to accommodate business.

The store is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. It is closed Sundays.

Holland will also work at the store a day or two a week, Pratt said.

[email protected]