This Beloved San Francisco Business Is Closing Its Doors After Over A Century

SAN FRANCISCO — A piece of San Francisco history will close its doors later this summer.

In a message titled “The Final Prescription,” the operators of Central Drug Store at 4494 Mission St. announced the business would close on July 15 after decades of ownership under the Tonelli family.

“We are a small, but mighty, pharmacy. And we are proud to say that we have outlasted Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and mail order services,” said the message, posted Monday on Central Drug’s Facebook page. “It is time for all of us to start a new phase in our lives and spend more time with our families.”

The history of Central Drug goes back even further than the Tonelli family, all the way to 1908, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte reported last year.

Customers took to social media this week to share their bittersweet feelings about the closure.

Nancy Souza Andre recalled visiting the store as a young child and, decades later, relying on the pharmacy when managing her mother’s illness.

“I can’t put into words what a blessing Central Drug, Jerry and the Tonelli family have been to me and my family for over 50 years,” she wrote.

Deborah Boero referred to Central Drug as “the last of the original Excelsior businesses.”

“My heart is breaking,” wrote Fran Colombo. “Central Drug was one of a kind never to be duplicated. There are no words.”

Central Drug is not the only pharmacy to recently shut its doors. Major chains like Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid have all weathered closures in the last year.

“In the late ’70s there must have been 300 independent pharmacies in San Francisco,” Central Drug pharmacist Jerry Tonelli told Nolte about a year ago. “Now there are less than 10 or 15. Within a mile of here there were at least five pharmacies. They all got bought out, or the rent was raised too high, or the owner retired.”