We visited VineRX Pharmacy! You'll never want to go to a chain pharmacy again! - Status Island

We're here today at Manor Plaza on Manor Road between Queen Street and Holden Boulevard. And we're going to show you today in between the barber and the bagel shop we have here a new store Vine RX and we have here Philip is going to show us around. First of all, the first thing I see over here that there's a big parking lot. So, you don't have to look for parking over here. Philip, how are you? I'm very well. How are you? Great. Good. So, first tell me how long ago did you open up the the pharmacy? We opened up in February 2025. So, we're just over a year old um and we started serving the community in Manor Heights um this last December. So, just over 3 months. You may have heard of us already. Yeah, we saw we heard you around. Now, you're going to show us the actual place. >> Absolutely. Come on in. Let's go. Wow, so right when you come in here you feel it's a cozy place. It's clean, new, tons of stock. Philip, let me ask you what is unique about Vine RX Pharmacy? So, Vine RX tries to fill the gap between unreliable independents and big box chains. So, we're trying to be an independent that's family and homely run but with a look, function, and feel of a big chain. So, all around phone call answered, delivery within a couple of hours, and we're open very late. So, you're saying it's a it feels like a cozy little place but you have the professionalism and experience like the big places. Exactly. I come from a business background. So, we have um one of our mission is to actually look and feel and function like a chain. You have customers call you directly. Absolutely. So, when the phone actually when somebody actually calls the the phones go straight to my phone. The calls go straight to my phone, Mario's phone, and Mary. Mary is my wife. Mario is my business partner and friend. And I'm I'm part owner. So, um you you're all at all times are going to get one of the three of us in >> So you're saying even when the store is closed, if somebody calls they get transferred to your cell phone, a real person or business? Absolutely. Even after hours, you can reach us for consultations over the phone as well if the store is closed. Wow, so it's not even comparable to a chain at all. This is much better. With a lot higher standards in terms of care, yes. One minute, Philip. What's this book over here? So it's the Pesach book. We We know that Passover is coming and we've done our talk to the community. People said, "Hey, this could be helpful to the patients." So we went and bought it. If you have any questions, we have the book ready. Wow, I didn't think you would have it. It's really It's really really nice. Not so much that you have the book, that's amazing, but that you went ahead and you found out what the community needs. >> We're also in constant communication with people that walk in or give us a call and we ask, "What else would you need? What's helpful to the community?" And we try to adapt as we go. So this is amazing. If anybody wants to look up any medications, you just come in here and you'll be all set. What's kosher for Passover? What's not? Amazing. I saw the how you deal You understand every culture and you're you're helping the Like I I said a joke when I came here that the some of the Hasidic culture is they come 5 or 5 minutes later. >> Yes. What And what do you tell me about that? >> I told you us Egyptians we're the same. So Egyptians also come always 5 minutes late? We have an Egyptian time thing. So that's good. You understand every culture that you work with. It's very nice. It's very refreshing to see that. Now, let me ask you, how long does it take when somebody orders uh from when the doctor sends in a script, a prescription, how long does it take till the family gets it usually? So um most days we try to get it to the patient within 2 hours. A lot of times it's a lot sooner. Um There are instances where I've taken meds to patients before the patient had gotten home from the doctor. Oh, wow. He gets home and the medicine medication I've met people in the driveway pulling in from the doctor to give them their meds, yes. Um however, obviously in some days routing it may take a little longer, but our gold standard is to get it to the patient within 2 hours. Wow. And what about refills? If somebody has a refill, do they have to call you and tell you, "Okay, I need a refill?" Absolutely not. So, we have automatic refills. We have um our pharmacist go through, you know, the refill queue every day, and then even if you have a script that's out of refills, we a lot of time reach out to the doctor to ask for refills also on your behalf, so you don't have to do the call. Oh, so you could even call the doctor, correct? >> And if it's a maintenance medicine, we call the doctor and tell them, "Hey, this person is on this medicine. We're out of refills. Please send a new script." >> Let's see. Um Philip, tell me a little bit about this. So, these are blister packs that our pharmacist prep for patients that are on a lot of meds. So, it has Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Yep. It breaks down um the meds >> and evenings. for people, you know, that are on multiple, so it takes out the confusion. It takes out what you've taken and what you haven't taken. Probably more like for elderly people. Most Most in most times, yes, but it's very helpful for people that take a lot of meds, and a lot of people >> request it. Well, make their life simpler. Yes. Wow. And um do all the pharmacists do do things like that? Um very few, and it's because it's time-consuming, but we love helping the community, so we have a full-time pharmacist working on these if needed. Go ahead. So, I'm holding the cylinders, and these are used when we mix your um antibiotics, especially for peds. This is how we measure how much water goes into the antibiotic, depending on the how much the label says there should be water. Um so, the pharmacist takes these, fills them up to the intended levels, and then they pour them into the antibiotic bottle. They shake it and mix it before they send it out. >> not just like a computer with AI printing out the medications. >> No, absolutely not. >> going on. It's an actual pharmacist doing the due diligence to make sure that you're getting your your right amount. Now, let me ask you something. I know before a fast, some people have like custom uh suppositories with caffeine and Tylenol. Do you have that? We are working on it. We've also spoken to the community. They told us that this is highly in demand, and and we're sourcing it, so it should be here soon. Look. So, this is for the DMV exam. We also do DMV exams. Um you can stop by anytime. You can also schedule an appointment on our website. Come, do it, and we submit the results almost instantly. >> Okay, one minute. Let me see if I could uh if I could read it. >> Yes. Or let's see our viewers. I'm about to try reading line number 12, the third letter. Okay, it's time for your eye exam. Um so, this is our consultation area where you can come in, ask questions, or get vaccinated. So, one thing we're probably the only pharmacy that sends out a female or a male pharmacist, depending on the gender, to vaccinate people at home on demand. Um free delivery. >> Wow, so you Wow, so you go down, and you also have separate male and female Absolutely. So, let's talk about delivery and hours. Uh first of all, what's the phone number? So, the phone number is 347-407-7444. We tried to create an easy-to-remember number, and uh hours are 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day, except for Fridays, we close at 7:00. Wow, so every night it's open till 11:00. We're open till 11:00. We possibly deliver till midnight, sometimes past that. Wow. So, you have late hours, open till 11:00, free delivery, right? Do you do delivery also if somebody needs vitamins? Oh, we forgot to show, by the way, the kosher products over here. Let's see. They have Maxi Health. Wow. Everything, whatever the community needs. So, we have Maxi Health vitamins, and then we have um kosher meds for Tylenol and um Motrin and Benadryl. Very nice. And antacids, if you need Tums. Okay, for Passover, you need to check the book, but this is for year-round. They have here the kosher stuff. What's the address? 927 Manor Road. And do you do delivery for the OTC We do deliver OTC, so if you're ever in a dilemma where you need something at 11:00 or 12:00 a.m. and you can give us a call, "Hey, do you have this?" If we have it in stock, we send somebody out. Wow. We have a designated driver. I do a lot of deliveries myself, so a lot of you may see. >> I do. And then Mario, the pharmacist, also does deliveries. So, we have three people doing deliveries throughout the day. >> you have a website? We do have a website, that's vinarxpharmacy.com. Um we also do have a couple of add-on services. We do faxes and and um printing. We do passport pictures if anybody needs. >> Faxes? Who still does faxes? Um believe it or not, the pharmacy the pharmacy industry relies on faxes very much. >> Interesting. Um and then we we talked about the MVI exams if needed. And we're getting notary very soon. Okay, so I highly recommend trying this out. You're not going to regret it. And um you're Can we say which doctors you work with? Um so we work with a couple of doctors within the community. Um I don't know if I'm allowed to drop names just yet, but you're going to see us in publications across from their ads. I know a lot of people told me that they people in my community told me that they come here and they're very happy. It was just a well-kept secret. Now now that you're on the Staten Island show God willing, you'll be famous now. >> We'll we'll make sure to scale accordingly so the quality of service does not drop. Okay. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Pleasure meeting you. Maybe next time we'll have also Mario in the video. For now, everybody will know Philip. They'll come in and say hello to Philip. >> Absolutely. And a lot of you know Mario already from when you speak to him over the phone. Okay, thank you very much. Pleasure.