Yankees-Red Sox may not be the only heated rivalry in Highbridge this spring.

An ugly competition could be brewing between two pharmacies located on West 168th Street and Ogden Avenue: The V&K pharmacy, which has stood on the southwest corner of that intersection since 1987, and Highbridge Pharmacy, which is currently being built directly across the street on the southeast corner, and whose arrival in the neighborhood is announced in giant blue letters on the building’s north and west sides. According to city property records, the structure at 1230 Ogden Avenue was purchased by Bharat Patel in May of 2007 for $1.85 million.

Highbridge Pharmacy will share space with King Laundry, the establishment currently occupying 1230 Ogden Ave. Patel said he would have liked to convert the entire structure into a pharmacy, but decided to keep part of the laundromat open because the community needed it. As he showed off the shiny black marble floors and 1500 square feet of his new business recently, Patel said an exact grand opening date for Highbridge Pharmacy has not yet been set, but that the new business is slated to open its doors by the end of February.

The reason V&K and Highbridge Pharmacy figure to share a particularly icy co-existence is that Patel was a partner at the V&K for about 15 years. According to an employee there, the relationship between Patel and the business’ other two partners recently grew strained, which led Patel to open a competing pharmacy across the street.

“He wants to take over all the patients and take this pharmacy down,” charged Reddy Kolli, who said he had worked at V&K for about six months.
Kolli admitted that he was worried Patel would be successful at luring customers across 168th Street. “Of course yes,” Kolli said. “He’s been working 15 years, and he knows a lot of patients.” Still, Kolli predicted some V&K customers would be turned off by Patel’s decision to open a competing business directly across the street from his old one.

“You don’t even have to go to college to learn that kind of ethics,” Kolli said.
Patel dismissed the notion that an ugly falling out with his former associates was motivating his new endeavor. “Small things,” he said. “We don’t have problems. Because I’m opening that one, they’re having issues.”

Patel said his decision was partly prompted by a desire to serve the community for longer hours —Highbridge Pharmacy will be open from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm Monday through Saturday, and 8:30 to 5:00 pm on Sunday. Patel, who said he currently lives in New Jersey, added that he hoped to move to

Highbridge soon in order to keep even longer hours.

As for why he decided to open a competing business immediately across the street from V&K Pharmacy, Patel said he simply wanted to remain in the neighborhood where he had built and sustained lengthy relationships with customers. Patel said he didn’t think Highbridge Pharmacy opening would spell the downfall of V&K.

“They know the customers,” Patel said. “I don’t think they’ll go out of business.”

Leslie Joaquin, a customer walking out of V&K one recent January afternoon, said she liked Patel personally but was unhappy with the new Highbridge pharmacy because of shrinking laundromat space. “At one time, we had too many laundromats,” Joaquin said. “Now we don’t have enough.” Joaquin added that since she was registered at V&K, she would probably continue to go there.

Yvette, another V&K shopper who said she was picking up medicine for a client, suggested that some customers would switch pharmacies. “Because he [Patel] was a good person over here, some people might stray over there,” said Yvette, who preferred not to give her last name.

Details of Highbridge Pharmacy had not spread nearly as fast as rumor to some residents of the area immediately surrounding the new establishment: Several people interviewed said they did not know who owned the pharmacy, when it would open and close, or what its opening date was. Some were under the impression that the pharmacy would be open 24 hours, as opposed to its actual hours of 8:30 am-8:00 pm.

Patel said Highbridge Pharmacy will deliver medications to customers within 3 miles of the store. In addition, he said, the pharmacy will provide infusions of Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), which are prescription injections of carbohydrates, proteins, and other essential elements given to patients who, in the eyes of their doctor, should not (or are not able) to receive nutrition by eating.

Patel said his recognition among customers bodes well for his new business.

“I’ve been in the community 20 years,” Patel said. “They were kids, they are now adults; I know the customers by the name.”