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“I’ve always had the dream of opening my own pharmacy,” said Fairfield resident Naga Mulpuri, owner of Unity Pharmacy. “It's not just about bagging drugs. That anyone can do. It’s about community.”
Twelve years ago, Mulpuri moved to the United States from India with her family and was recertified as a licensed pharmacist two years after that. Since then, she has worked at CVS and with an independent pharmacist in New York. Last September, she decided to branch out on her own.
“We started in Connecticut,” Mulpuri said, and then moved to New Jersey, but many of her family friends still lived here. When she came to the area to visit, she noticed that there were no local pharmacies in the area, despite the number of doctors here.
Her new pharmacy stocks everything the big box stores have, she said, because all the drugs come from the same warehouses. But where the big stores get deliveries only once a week, Mulpuri said she can get what a customer wants within a day. “I can always get it for you next day,” she said.
She also makes deliveries to anyone within a 15-mile radius, accepts electronic prescriptions and has an app for customers and patients to get refills of their medications.
“You just go home, and I’ll bring it to you,” she said.
It took a long time for the pharmacy, which has been in business for less than a month, to even get to the point where she could open. The licensing process from the town, state and federal Drug Enforcement Agency started in September. “I couldn’t even put up a sign until I had the license,” she said.
Mulpuri got her final approval March 1 but decided not to open until she finished her agreements with insurance companies. Unity Pharmacy now accepts most insurances, which was important to have in place even before she opened.
Since Unity Pharmacy opened April 1, she has been reaching out to the community and spreading the word about her new business. Mulpuri said she hopes to start off-site office hours where she can answer questions about health and medication for the public.
“The knowledge I have I can share,” Mulpuri said.
Her main goal, she said, is to have a pharmacy where people can feel comfortable asking a question and can receive the personal care that Mulpuri can offer.
“Of course I'd like to have a good business, but I’m not looking for the thousand prescriptions that the big stores have. I’m happy with my 100 customers who will give me repeat business,” Mulpuri said.
Unity Pharmacy is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. It is located at 1326 Post Road in downtown Fairfield.
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