Bellefonte Drug Store has closed after 72 years in business.

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A Bellefonte staple for more than seven decades is closing up shop this month.

At Plumb’s Drug Store, 105 N. Allegheny St., the last day of business for the pharmacy at Plumb’s Drug Store, 105 N. Allegheny St., will be Monday, April 17, but the retail portion of the store will be open for a short time after that, owners John. And Margie Lukovich wrote in an article posted on the business Facebook page.

The store is holding a 50% off sale on all counter and gift items. For existing customers, send prescriptions to CVS, 127 S. Potter St. It will be broadcast in Bellefonte.

“It is a sad day in his 72 years of service to the community,” he wrote. “It has been a pleasure serving you for the past 49 years. Special thanks to the many employees over the years.

Edward L. Plumb Jr. opened Plumb’s Drug Store in 1951, and in some ways it has remained a time capsule — from the faces behind the friendly drugstore counter to the soda fountain, enjoyed by generations of community members.

John Lukovich, like a few Bellefonte teenagers, got his first job at Plumb while in high school. In 1974, after attending the same pharmacy school as Plumb, he returned to work as a full-time pharmacist at the store.

When Plum retired in 1981, fellow pharmacist Eugene Sebastianelli bought the store. When Sebastianelli died in 2012, Lukovic bought it.

“There were only three owners and we all knew each other on a personal level. … It was like passing it down from one family to another,” Lukovic said. City and gown In 2020.

Family is how Lukovic describes the store’s clientele, adding that while T&G’s large pharmacy chains are dominated by small and independent businesses, Plumb’s maintains its personal touch.

“I felt like there were so many people here in Bellefonte … like family,” he said at the time. “They are not customers. They are like family to me. I’ve probably seen about four generations of families since I came here in ’74. When I came, it was someone’s great-grandparents, grandparents, then their parents and them, and now their children. You know them all, where they live, what they do, their jobs. It’s the most personal relationship you have with your customers. They say nothing ever changes, and I don’t know what else I want to do.”

Plumb’s will be the second independent drug store to close on Allegheny Street in as many years. Parrish’s Apothecary closed its doors on the street in 2019 after 129 years in business.

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