Erie pharmacy celebrates 60 years

April 01--The history of Burhenn's Pharmacy hangs on the walls of the east Erie drugstore.

An Erie Times-News story from 2003 describes the pharmacy's move from its original location at 3713 Pine Ave. to its current store at 861 E. 38th St.

An enlarged photo from the mid-1950s shows the pharmacy's founders, Henry and Barbara Burhenn, standing in front of the original store with their teenage sons, Ray and Karl.

"What I remember is Mom and Dad working 12 hours a day and dinner being in a big pot down in the basement," said Ray Burhenn, 72, who has overseen the pharmacy for 33 years. "Mom had two hot plates, and that's where she made dinner many nights."

Henry and Barbara Burhenn had bought the former Smith's Pharmacy and moved their family from Pittsburgh to Erie. They opened Burhenn's Pharmacy on April Fools' Day in 1954. Henry Burhenn was the pharmacist, and Barbara Burhenn worked as the cashier.

Sixty years later, the Burhenn family continues to work there, dispensing medications, managing the store and overseeing its finances. Burhenn's, along with Frontier Pharmacy, are two of the largest independently owned pharmacies left in Erie County.

"I worked for a time at a chain pharmacy," said Michael Burhenn, 46, a pharmacist and Burhenn's Pharmacy manager. "It's so much nicer working in a pharmacy where there is family. Anytime there is an issue, it can be fixed immediately."

Ray Burhenn no longer works as a pharmacist but continues to oversee the family business as chief executive of the corporation. His wife, Karen, serves as president.

One daughter, Barbara Weibel, is a pharmacist and the corporation's secretary, while another daughter, Michelle Poe, is the bookkeeper and the corporation's treasurer. Son Michael Burhenn is the corporation's vice president.

"Now the grandchildren are starting to work here. Mike's daughter is a cashier," Ray Burhenn said. "It means a lot to me."

Brothers Ray and Karl Burhenn took over the pharmacy in 1972 when their father retired. Ray Burhenn became sole owner and operator when his brother died after surgery in 1981.

The previous year, the brothers had opened a second pharmacy, Union Prescription Center, at West 29th and Cherry streets. It remained in business for about 10 years.

"We offered union members dirt-cheap prices," Ray Burhenn said. "No delivery, no credit. We closed it when business dropped off."

The pharmacy business has changed in many ways over the past 60 years, Ray Burhenn said.

Pharmacists no longer set the prices on most of their drugs; health insurance companies do. At the same time, the demand for medicine is greater than it's ever been.

"There are so many more drugs than there were 20 years ago," Michael Burhenn said. "And some of it is so confusing. People are rushed in and out of their doctor's office, given prescriptions and come to us. They finally get a moment to pause, and they realize they have questions. We now get a lot of questions."

But the pharmacy's basic job of dispensing drugs has not changed over the past 60 years, though technology has made it quicker and more accurate, Ray Burhenn said.

Pharmacists now use a robot to fill about 80 percent of Burhenn's drug orders. The machine, which resembles a file cabinet, automatically dispenses the drugs and attaches a printed label to the bottle when a prescription is scanned into its system.

"It even works on refill requests sent electronically," Ray Burhenn said. "The pharmacist comes in that morning, and there might already be 20 to 30 refills that are bottled and labeled."

Ray Burhenn said he had opportunities to sell the pharmacy but never pulled the trigger. Now he is confident turning it over to his three children.

Today's anniversary is about celebrating the past, though the Burhenns are constantly planning for the future.

They purchased the property on which the pharmacy is located in 2011 and are considering what to do with the vacant storefront next door.

"We're definitely going to do something with the vacant space," Michael Burhenn said. "I don't think we're going to expand the pharmacy."

DAVID BRUCE can be reached at 870-1736 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNbruce.

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