I was born and raised in Marblehead and for 25 years my family used to use Village Pharmacy for everything. Over the years the owner Elliot Strasnick has become more and more of a rude, arrogant, miserable human being. I entered Village Pharmacy on the day of my daughters 7th birthday to have balloons inflated for her party. We called prior to coming in and were told we could come down. When we arrived I told Elliot what we were there for. He sighed (never cracked a smile or said hi or welcome), and said, well I need at least 45minutes to do that. Another woman behind the counter tried to help us, but had trouble tying balloons. He was sitting behind the counter (with his thumb up his ass) doing nothing. He should be embarrassed that he can't work a helium tank in his own store. He told us the girl that does it would be back in a few minutes. I politely said, "ok we can wait". The girl came and happily inflated the balloons. When it came to the mylar balloon (about the size of 2 mylar balloons) she asked Elliot how much it would cost to inflate and he said &10! can you imagine? He said it costs $5-6 of helium to inflate that balloon (obviously he is not too intelligent because that is way off!) He said, "I need to make money so I will charge you $10 and this is her lunch break" (I am in public service and was always taught the customer comes first). I said I would not pay that and my poor daughter was crying and sobbing, she really loved that balloon. It took another 5 or so minutes to finish the latex balloons. About 7 customers came in and Elliot stood behind the counter, again doing nothing. I said, 'Will you take $5-?" He said "no, I am running a business and need to make money". I said, you are really going to stand there and see this little girl upset and not work with me? He said no. Even after telling him how my family used him for years...he did not care. What an embarrassment for a local pharmacist in our town.
They always say 'keep it local'. How can you keep it local when store owners are so miserable and unhappy and down right rude. After sharing my story with a bunch of local families at the party, I learned that they too couldn't stand him and never go in there. I would never step foot in that overpriced pharmacy again.
(I heard through the grapevine that Elliot at one time was in trouble with the Marblehead public school system and was not allowed in the schools due to rude comments he made about a mentally challenged child calling them derogatory names and insulting them! That just proves that he is a slime bag. He should be so embarrassed to show his face.) read more
