Decades-Old Medical Shop In Queens To Close, Citing Business Woes

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — A long-standing medical supply shop in Forest Hills will sell its last pair of compression socks and set of crutches this month.

Jones Surgical Co. has stood on the corner of Metropolitan and Continental avenues since the 1950s, but on March 31st the medical supply shop will permanently shutter, co-owner Rita Lieberman confirmed with Patch, citing business struggles as the reason for closing.

"Between COVID and the internet, people have moved from buying at small mom-and-pop stores to buying online," said Lieberman, noting that the shop has a dedicated customer base, but some people come in to learn more about the products, and then buy them online.

Although the proliferation of online shopping, especially amid the pandemic, has negatively impacted business (Jones Surgical Co. let its website domain expire a while ago), Lieberman said that the decision to close was still a challenging one.

"There's never a perfect time to make a break, especially since the shop is an institution, but it's come to a point where it's not productive for us to stay open," she said of herself and her husband, who've owned the shop for the last 14 years with a third partner whose been in the business since the 1960s.

While their partner is getting ready to retire, Lieberman said that she and her husband are going to keep Jones Surgical Co. open for existing (and new) wholesale clients — running the operation out of a new office space, with the same phone number.

"We are still that old school mom-and-pop organization, just working out of an office instead of a big retail store," she said. "We will not be internet based."

Jones Surgical Co. opened during a bygone era when doctors made house calls, visiting patients' homes with bags full of medical supplies purchased (in part) at the Forest Hills shop.

Retail customers made up the other side of the business, Lieberman explained; people who stopped into the green-awning store to buy crutches for their child, or a wheelchair for an aging parent.

"Most people don't think, 'oh gee let me go browse at a surgical supply store,' you come here because you need something that we have," said Lieberman, noting that the store's employees offer support and expertise that is hard to replicate online.

"We treat every customer as a family member, so we give them all the information and give them whatever time they need and answer their questions until they're satisfied," she said.

Many neighbors can attest to that point, having taken to Facebook to share memories of the store in light of its closing.

"I bought from there once when recovering at home from surgery and they couldn't be more helpful," wrote one neighbor.

"The customer service and knowledge of staff can never be matched online," wrote another, recalling a time when a worker allowed her to mail in a check for a soft boot cast since they didn't take credit cards.

"That's what Forest Hills was back then, a real village neighborhood," she wrote.

Lieberman, who rents the shop from the building owner, said she doesn't know what's next for the storefront at 101-21 Metropolitan Avenue.