Orleck’s the Rite Guy
At Randolph Pharmacy
By M. D. Drysdale

The Rite Aid pharmacy in Randolph has reached agreement with Robert Orleck, who once operated his own pharmacy here, to be the new Rite Aid pharmacy manager.

In addition, a second pharmacist has been hired from a Massachusetts Rite Aid store, and Orleck’s long-time technician, Kristine Guarino of Sharon, will also begin work at the Randolph store.

Orleck and a Rite Aid vice president, Sadri Idrahim, said this week they were sure that the new staffing would take care of the problems that have plagued the Randolph pharmacy for the last three months. Those problems have led to the pharmacy occasionally being closed, leading to complaints from customers and consumer advocates.

The complaints reached a head when the Vermont Pharmacy Board met Nov. 16 to consider shutting down the Randolph pharmacy because it did not have a managing pharmacist, as required by law. The board granted a reprieve upon hearing that a new manager was in the works.

The many complaints from Vermont and New Hampshire have resulted in Rite Aid forming a new management region including just those two states plus the Massachusetts Berkshires, according to Idrahim, who is in charge of the new region.

Normally, a region consists of about 225 stores, he said, while the newly-created region has just 68. Manpower is being pumped into the regional operations from all over the country, he said, to deal with problems that Rite Aid belatedly acknowledged.

Return to Randolph

Orleck confirmed this week that he will leave the Price Chopper pharmacy in West Lebanon, where he has worked for three years, to come back to work in Randolph.

Orleck, who with his wife Barbara has lived here since 1976, operated the independent Depot Square Pharmacy in the former railroad station from 1976 to 1983. The pharmacy was extremely popular with customers.

Since that time he has worked as a pharmacist in Woodstock for 17 years, at the Lebanon K-Mart for four years, and at Price Chopper, which he called "a really nice, really great place … they treated me well."

He is excited to be working in Randolph again, however, having come to feel a little out-of-touch after working out of town for so long. That was the "decisive factor" in his choice, he said.

After taking some training on Rite Aid’s new computer system, Orleck said he would be behind the counter some time in January. He pledged to bring a personal touch.

"I like people," he said simply.

The second pharmacist starts at the Randolph store this week, according to Idrahim.

Regional Focus

The new regional vice president admitted that Rite Aid has experienced substantial "staffing challenges" in Vermont and New Hampshire, which is why it has created the new region.

"We can make mistakes like any other company out there," he said. "We didn’t realize the extent of the staffing problems."

Those problems, he said, began when the stores were part of the Brooks chain, which decreased salaries for pharmacists and "caused a massive exodus."

"When Rite Aid took over, it took awhile to discover the reasons why people are leaving," he said.

"We’ve made a lot of progress over the last four weeks," he told The Herald. "All the pharmacies are stable with managers."

Part of the focus has also been on converting all 68 stores to new computer and inventory systems, both for the front of the store and for the pharmacies.

"We’re almost there," he said.

He pledged that the chain will work to finish the job.

"In my six and a half years with Rite Aid, I’ve never seen the company focus on one region the way it is being done now in Vermont and New Hampshire," Idrahim said.