Photo by Erin Nelson.
Mike Cobb, longtime owner and pharmacist at Crestline Pharmacy, enters information into the computer system as he works to fill a prescription May 12.
It had been long enough, Mike Cobb said.
He has owned Crestline Pharmacy with one of his best friends, Scooter Hammers, for 30 years, but the pair is saying goodbye to standing all day and working as pharmacists — and they’re saying hello to retirement and spending time with their grandchildren.
”We never sit down,” Cobb said. “We stand all day long. It was just time.”
Located at 60 Church St. in Mountain Brook’s Crestline Village, the pharmacy opened up in the early ’50s. Cobb and Hammers have owned the store for longer than anyone else and have been pharmacists for over 40 years.
The pair met at Samford. Cobb and Hammers played football together there, and their wives-to-be were sorority sisters. After graduating from Samford’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy in the late ’70s, Cobb went to work downtown at Dewberry Drug Co. Hammers soon joined Cobb there, and they worked together there for four years.
They went their separate ways, each taking jobs at different pharmacies, but they stayed in touch through the years. Then on March 1,1990, they bought Crestline Pharmacy. When first starting out, they worked 60 hours a week and had to work every other weekend.
“We were there a lot,” Cobb said. “A lot of hours early on, for sure.”
When looking back on the past few decades at Crestline Pharmacy, Cobb laughed and said there are some memories he can’t share. But although he said he doesn’t think he will miss the long hours of work, he said he will miss the interactions he had with his customers.
“The main thing is just the people,” he said. “Some of these people are in the store almost daily.”
Before Crestline Pharmacy, Cobb also worked for eight years at a drugstore in Mountain Brook Village. When he moved a few miles away to Crestline, he kept some of the same clients.
“So a lot of these people, I’ve had for over 38 years,” he said. “It’s just like family. It’s bittersweet — we certainly will miss seeing and talking to these people.”
He never receives any complaints from the customers, Cobb said.
“Everybody’s chipper and in a good mood,” he said. “And we want them to leave in a good mood. We know pretty much everybody’s name when they come in, and that’s their favorite thing to hear.”
Cobb and Hammers both have three daughters. Hammers has four grandchildren, and Cobb has five grandchildren with another one due this month.
“That’s been part of it (retirement) — the lure of these grandchildren,” Cobb said. “They want us around more while we can still move around.”
Cobb is also looking forward to woodworking in his new free time, he said. He built a bed for one granddaughter last year and recently finished building a bulldozer bed for another grandchild.
Matt Leach, who has been with Crestline Pharmacy for more than 15 years, will be taking over the business. Cobb said he knows he will be leaving the customers in good hands with Leach.
“He’s young and energetic,” Cobb said. “He’s watched us, and I think he will carry on with the same type of operation.”
Crestline Pharmacy is open seven days a week, has a free delivery service and offers in-house charge accounts. There’s also a gift shop in the front. For more information, visit the Crestline Pharmacy page on Facebook.
