New Pharmacy Eyes Early Spring Opening at Old Lyme Marketplace

An aerial photo of Old Lyme Marketplace provided by Charter Realty.

OLD LYME, CT – With the departure last month of Walgreens, a new pharmacy is set to move into the Old Lyme Marketplace on Halls Road.

Nagy Wassef, an Old Lyme resident for more than a decade, said in a Tuesday phone interview he expects to begin installing cabinets and shelving next week for his newest Medicine Shoppe location between the former Walgreens and Big Y World Class Market. He hopes to be ready to open around mid-March.

Wassef also operates the Medicine Shoppe in Old Saybrook, where his daughter is the pharmacist and manager, and in Vernon. He previously owned the New London Medicine Shoppe for about 15 years before selling it in 2020.

The new Old Lyme pharmacy will occupy 1,545 square feet where the Connecticut Audubon Society Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center used to be.

He said it’s a smaller space than the 9,000-square-foot store that Walgreens’ customers were accustomed to. It comes with a smaller staff, too.

“We know people and people know us,” he said.

He said delivery will be available, noting Old Lyme customers can already order prescription delivery from the Old Saybrook location. Other personalized services include pre-sorted packaging to organize multiple prescriptions into daily doses.

Pharmacist David Remsbecker will manage the site, according to Wassef.

The plaza is under new ownership after a team of developers announced the purchase of the 102,500-square-foot shopping center at 90 Halls Road in early December. They paid $11.55 million, according to local land records.

Asher Zelson, of Westport-based Charter Realty and Zelco Properties & Development, said the plaza’s owners are happy to fill the void left by Walgreens’ departure.

He reiterated plans for a spring opening subject to local approvals and state licensing.

He said he hopes to have news about additional tenants “in the near future.”

Wassef said he wasn’t aware of specific plans for the plaza, but added there’s more attention being paid to the plaza than he’s seen in past years. He pointed to the crews cleaning the gutters during his last visit.

“It seems they are much more active,” he said.