Renaissance Court

Renaissance Pharmacy, perhaps the last independent pharmacy on Court Street in Brooklyn, has closed. As the above picture shows, the space is for rent and the sign has been removed, leaving only the outline of the cursive wording.

This is no surprise, given that there is an Eckerd two blocks away, a Rite Aid four blocks away, another Rite Aid further up Court and another Eckerd at Court and Atlantic. All of these big boxy boys opened in the last five years. The neighborhood only lacks a Duane Reade. Carroll Gardens pharmacy, near Carroll Park, closed last year and was supplanted by a Chase branch. Another small Court Street pharmacy, supposedly a hunded years old, closed a few years back. It was replaced, appropriately enough, by a real estate broker.

I liked Renaissance best. It was quaint, made up of two small aisles and a raised pharmacy counter in back. There was a seat when elderly people could rest their bones while waiting for a perscription. And the young female pharmacist was kind and cute and looked a bit like Lili Taylor. A loss for the community, without question.