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Egg creams and pretzel sticks aren’t what you expect when you walk into a pharmacy.
At least, not nowadays.
But at the new Pharmarista in Babylon Village, they’re part of the prescription.
Owner Danny Marcello, a licensed pharmacist and certified barista, opened the shop on Main Street this spring with a throwback approach that blends coffee bar and neighborhood drug store.
The idea harks back to the days when pharmacies doubled as community hangouts, long before CVS and Walgreens took over the landscape.
The egg creams have already become the talk of the town.
The secret? Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup, the classic ingredient New Yorkers swear by. “People who know egg creams say I got it right when they see Fox’s,” Marcello said. For full effect, each one comes with a pretzel stick on the side.
“This is the way an old pharmacy was,” Marcello said. “You’d have your pharmacy … your candy shop. It gives people something to do, someplace to gather while they wait for their prescription.”
The right move
Pharmarista opened May 27 at 68 W. Main St., the former home of Roe Roe’s Sweet Street. Marcello signed the lease last summer and spent nearly a year revamping the building to accommodate both the pharmacy and café.
The Babylon Village community has embraced the concept, with five-star Google reviews praising the service and the specialty coffee selection. Groups of teens stop in for egg creams and candy, while regulars sip cappuccinos.
Marcello, a Lindenhurst native with 25 years of retail pharmacy experience, said he couldn’t be happier with his decision.
“The neighborhood is fabulous,” he said. “The village has been good to me.”
The CVS alternative
Pharmarista carries 200 to 300 prescription medications and accepts most insurance plans.
For now, Marcello is the only pharmacist on site, working alongside pharmacy technician Brittany Cordero and two café employees.
The shop is open seven days a week: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.
“You treat people well, and they treat you better,” Marcello said.
“If we can give people something different than a long line and a problem, that’s the idea.”
