Alberts Fresh Market to use Grafton Village grant to help open a pharmacy

Alberts Fresh Market in Grafton will use a village grant to help it build a pharmacy, something the village has been without since the closure of Rite Aid this year. During a meeting on Wednesday night, Grafton Village Council voted to approve a $100,000 grant for the project, the maximum amount allowed through the program. "When this grant was made available, I realized by no means would it pay for all of what we need to do— we're talking large sums of money — but this definitely enabled us to move forward and get this accomplished," Ralph Pence, the owner of Alberts, said on Thursday. Pence, a farmer and businessman, purchased the grocery formerly known as the Grafton Food Center and then Sparkle Market in 2023, with plans to renovate it to better meet the community's needs. He said that he decided a full-service pharmacy needed to be a part of that plan when it was announced that the Grafton Rite Aid would close, leaving the village and surrounding area with no pharmacy. "I live in our community, our farm is about a mile south of town, why do we have to go to neighboring communities to buy anything?" Pence said. "We should be able to be self-sufficient in our own community. That's when I realized that I need to put a pharmacy in our store in some fashion. So I began the hunt and said this has got to happen." The pharmacy will be built from the ground up inside the existing footprint of Alberts, and its construction will be accompanied by a revamp of the entire store including new fridges, cases and a fresh layout. Pence said that the new pharmacy would be worked by local pharmacists and provide the same services as a full pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens. It will also have a drive-thru. "We'll build this from scratch (and) we will be putting in a new drive-thru to make it as convenient as we can for our customers," Pence said. "Our community is everything to us. The business is 91 years old, the store itself is right at 80 years old and our commitment is brand new, stronger than ever. We're just so thankful for those that walked before us, but today it's our turn. … We owe it to our community." Everyone gets sick, Pence said, so a pharmacy that is easily accessible is just as crucial to the community as the other services Alberts already provides. Village Administrator Andrew Lipian said that Alberts will partner with a family pharmacy for the project, but Pence said he could not share the name of the partner pharmacy yet. The pharmacy itself will be Alberts-branded. "Our goal is to make it as close to home as we can make it," Pence said. "We are gonna put everything we can into that pharmacy to make it on the cutting edge of everything. But at the same time we never want to lose our spirit, our desire to put our hand out and say happy to see you, thank you, you're welcome. We want to be their complete store." The grant program is funded through American Rescue Plan Act funds, and Grafton Village Administrator Andrew Lipian said the pharmacy was a perfect fit for the program, which applies to a variety of industries but prioritizes projects in the field of health care and medicine. In a statement Thursday, Mayor Charles Duke said he felt it was important for the village to have the services it needed locally. "We are creating jobs and bringing back the Grafton we know and love, investing in our legacy businesses," Duke said in the release. "We're working to be a self-sustaining community again, where we don't have to travel outside our town for the things we need — like a pharmacy. (Lipian) worked quickly to roll this grant out so we could deliver it by the deadline, and now we have the bandwidth to update our business community so it can compete and win." Also on Wednesday, Council approved ARPA grants for four other businesses and a nonprofit in the village: Nancy's Diner and Gunter Concrete and Construction each received a $50,000 grant, automatic door company Action Automatics received $25,000, nonprofit The Historic Grafton School received $15,000 and the CC Saloon received $10,000 to build a kitchen and start serving food. ARPA funds were provided after President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law in 2021, but have a deadline attached. All funds must be assigned before the end of this year and spent by the end of 2025 or they will be returned. Businesses participating in Grafton's grant program must submit their plans to the Planning Commission, which meets next on Nov. 19, and complete their project by Dec. 31, 2026. Pence thanked Village Council and administration for the support of his business and the pharmacy project, adding that he felt there was a feeling of progress in the people of Grafton. "It's great to be a small part of such a big movement," Pence said. "I'm telling you, Grafton is waking up. Things are changing, you can see it in the people." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.