Ames resident T.J. McDonald will have to find another place to fill his prescriptions in May.

The drug store he always visits, Osco Drug, 207 S. Duff, is one of 15 Iowa stores being closed by its parent company, Albertson’s, Inc.

McDonald said he knows several of the employees and will miss the store.

“I’m really sad to see it go,” he said. “I get my prescriptions here. I use the post office. It’s kind of a social event.”

Karen Ramos, spokesperson for Osco Drug, said the company is closing the 15 Des Moines-area stores because they are “under-performing.”

Ramos said Osco Drug entered the Des Moines market in 1995, but has been unable to operate profitably due to competition from other drug stores.

“We put a tremendous investment into that market . and we have to have a return on that investment to stay open,” Ramos said.

The general manager at Osco Drug in Ames said he was “not allowed” to comment on the closing and refused to give his name.

“This decision … has nothing to do with the way our associates conducted business on behalf of Osco Drug,” said Gary Hunstiger, area vice president for Osco Drug, in a press release.

“We greatly care about each of our associates and customers and are incredibly grateful for, and humbled by, their loyalty and dedication.”

Ramos said there was no specific problem with individual stores, but that the entire market area had not met company expectations.

Walgreens is buying two of the Des Moines stores and one in Ankeny, along with the pharmacy files of all fifteen stores.

Osco Drug expects to close the 12 unsold stores by May 2.

Ramos estimated that each Osco Drug store employs about 20 people. “We have offered a severance package that includes wages and benefits,” he said.

Ramos said Osco Drug has also told Des Moines-area employees they would be considered for positions outside the area.

McDonald, who fills his prescriptions at Osco Drug, said he is upset the store is selling its pharmacy files without consulting individual customers.

“In no way am I in any agreement with them turning over my prescriptions and everything,” McDonald said.

McDonald said he was not only perturbed that Osco Drug is selling its files, but also that they won’t release his own file to him.

Michael Polzin, spokesman for Walgreens, said purchasing the pharmacy files from the store “makes it easier for the patients because they don’t have to give us all their information again.”

Polzin said selling the files is not only legal, but common.

Walgreens didn’t look at purchasing the Ames store, Polzin said, because the company is only buying the three Osco Drug stores to replace three existing Walgreens.

“We’ve been in Des Moines for a very long time and have been very successful there,” Polzin said.

Kenneth Stone, professor of agricultural economics, said the closings are nothing new.

He said Iowa has lost slightly more than 23 percent of all its drug stores.

Stone said part of the reason Ames’ Osco Drug is closing is a phenomenon he calls “over-storing.”

Osco Drug must compete both with other pharmacies such as Walgreens, and smaller pharmacies within Hy-Vee, Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart.

Stone said major chain stores, such as Osco Drug, “feel like they have to grow or they’re going to die.”

“Osco, I think, just completely underestimated the situation,” he said.

The Ames Osco Drug is one of 165 stores Albertson’s is closing, according to the company’s Web site.

Financial information on the company’s Web site reveals the extent of its restructuring.

Annual sales more than doubled between January 29, 1998, and January 28, 1999, rising from $14.7 billion to $35.9 billion.

Last year, Albertson’s net earnings, “including restructuring and other items,” rose 32 percent to reach $290 million.

Osco Drug plans to sell or sublease the Ames store, which is valued at $817,300.