Metuchen pharmacy to reopen under new ownership
Former owners to oversee day-to-day affairs
BY JAY BODAS Correspondent
The oldest business on Main Street, Metuchen now has a new owner, along with a touched-up interior.

JAY BODAS Gerard Bargoud and Oksana Bokalo arrange gifts in the front section of Boyt Drug Store in Metuchen.

"We did some remodeling, and we figured this is a good time to introduce ourselves to the community," said pharmacist Gerard Bargoud, one of five partners who bought Boyt Drug Store from the Belafsky family earlier this year.

The store will host a grand reopening ceremony Nov. 17 at 10 a.m.

"The floor was redone with new carpeting, and the ceiling lights were replaced," Bargoud said. "We also have new merchandise, with a new selection of gifts. On the morning of the ceremony, we will have refreshments, some raffles, and gifts. We will also give out some gift coupons and have an open house."

The entire front half of the store is taken up by a unique selection of gifts, ranging from jewelry and watches to music boxes and Ne'Qwa Art handpainted Christmas ornaments

Most items in the store will be on sale for 10 percent off the week following the re-opening, Bargoud said.

"The day is an opportunity for members of the community to just come out and meet the staff," he said.

Despite the change in ownership, not one of the store's 22 employees was let go, Bargoud said.

The previous owner, Don Belafsky, 57, has stayed on as manager of the store's day-to-day operations. His family had owned the store for the last 58 years.

"This is the oldest business on Main Street," said Belafsky, who grew up in Metuchen. "It was opened in 1948 by my father, Harry Belafsky. His partner was Arnold Boyt, but it was much easier to make a sign that said Boyt rather than Belafsky."

The pharmacy burned down in a fire in 1981. Metuchen Police Chief James T. Keane was the patrolman on duty that night.

"I was on car patrol along with another officer on the midnight shift when I noticed that I could not see into the Boyt Drug Store windows," Keane said. "Further investigation revealed a heavy smoke condition. Before the fire department arrived, we tried to enter through the rear door to the store. It was very hot, so we knew then we had a structure fire. The entire inside of the store was lost, but it could have been much worse."

After getting over the initial shock, they wasted no time and were up and running again within a day and a half, Belafsky said.

"We were filling prescriptions out of a 40-foot trailer in the parking lot," he said. "The fire department said they put a tarp over the prescription files, which saved them, and that is why we were able to continue filling prescriptions. This was before computers, as it was all typewriters and index cards back then."

Within six months, the pharmacy had reopened at the same location, completely rebuilt.

Though his family no longer owns the pharmacy, Belafsky said he was "lucky" to have sold it to Bargoud.

"You always hope you can sell your business to someone you will like," Belafsky said. "I am lucky because he is good for the town, all the staff likes him, and I enjoy working for him and with him. If anything, the atmosphere of the store has improved because he is such a great guy."

Martin Fisher, who has been a store pharmacist for the past 12 years, said he and the rest of the staff would continue to go "out of their way" to help solve customers' problems.

"We recently had a fellow who was flying over to England to have a medical procedure done, and he needed a prescription filled within 24 hours," Fisher said. "It was an oddball item that wasn't carried in the store or by anyone local around here, but we were able to get it. We try to do what we can to make people happy, as long as it is in the law."

"Another time, we needed to go out to Bound Brook to get a medication for a cardiac patient," recounted Bargoud. "I had to call all over until we found the place that had it, and a few hours later we had the medication. That patient is now a regular customer."