By Jessie Butner
Uptown Roxboro sat quietly under Friday’s abysmal gray and cloudy chill all afternoon – with the exception of 117 N. Main Street. Inside, a crowd of people, congregating at tables or waiting in line, found no shortage of conversation, but little elbow room. The aroma of food that sizzled as it cooked filled the atmosphere as cash registers clattered, telephones rang, and popular hits of yesteryear played over the speakers. Despite the extended queue of customers waiting for their orders to be fulfilled, patrons bided their time patiently and without complaint. One observer described the bustling scene as a cross between a celebration, a circus, and a funeral.
What could have brought so many people together during unfavorable weather on a weekday afternoon to brave long lines and claustrophobic conditions? The throng of supporters had shown up to say their goodbyes upon Cole’s Pharmacy’s last day in business after almost 70 years as a Main Street fixture and community hangout.
Credit: Jessie Butner / The Courier-Times
A dose of nostalgia
Cole’s Pharmacy was first opened by Hoke County native Alfred “Al” Cole in 1956, moving from its original location adjacent to the courthouse to its current address in the early 60s. At that time, a teenaged James Carver, of East Roxboro, was employed by Cole to do grunt work around the pharmacy. Cole took the young James, who had lost his father in childhood, under his wing. Under Cole’s mentorship, James dreamed of becoming a pharmacist himself. Upon graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and passing his board exams, James returned to Cole’s Pharmacy not as an unskilled laborer, but as a professional alongside Cole. James eventually became part-owner of Cole’s Pharmacy, and the pair were characterized over the years as hardworking and friendly.
The drugstore itself gained a reputation not only for its convenience and quality customer service at the pharmacy counter, but for its classic American eats made to order at the grill. The cooks at Cole’s Pharmacy prepared barbecue, pimento cheese, and chicken salad sandwiches, hand-dipped ice cream and milkshakes, sodas from the fountain, lemonade, and, of course, their famous, award-winning hotdogs, their cult favorite hot dog sandwiches, and their wildly popular orangeade.
Cole’s Pharmacy became the gathering place in Roxboro for all ages; a place where friends and coworkers chewed the fat, connections were made, and memories abounded.
Janine Wall, one of the many who came to the grill for one last hot dog on Friday, has been a Cole’s fan for more than 50 years.
“In high school, on Friday afternoons, a bunch of us girls would come up, sit in the front booth, and the boys would be in the end booth, and we would peer over the top of the booth to see who was down there,” she said.
As the decades passed, the pharmacy was where the aura of a simpler time met modern day people where they were, and enveloped them. Everyone, regardless of status, creed, or background, was always welcome.
A hard pill to swallow
In 2017, Cole sold his share of the business to James and retired. James ran Cole’s Pharmacy for the next five years, even as he became sick with leukemia. He filled prescriptions diligently until he passed away from complications of gastroparesis in December 2022, leaving the business to his two adult children, Robbie Carver and Christie Rochefort, who had both been working there on and off since the 1980s. Cole also passed away in February 2025.
Cole’s Pharmacy announced via Facebook post on Jan. 23 that it would be closing its doors after this past Friday.
“This decision has not been made lightly,” the post read, “While we are heartbroken to reach this moment, the memories, friendships, and successes far outweigh the hardships.”
These “hardships”, systemic developments that have been harming independent pharmacies across the nation, made it impossible for the drugstore to make a profit. Carver says the main issue lies with Pharmacy Benefit Managers, or PBMs, the middlemen who negotiate how much insurance companies pay pharmacies for medications after prescriptions have been filled.
“It’s like having a skeleton in your closet,” Carver said, “You don’t know who they are, where they are, or how they operate. They cut and cut and cut what we received as paybacks from medicine that we sold.”
Carver said in many cases, insurance companies were paying Cole’s Pharmacy significantly less for drugs than what they had been purchased for, meaning they were losing money with each order.
These discrepancies had been an ongoing problem for years, with PBMs choking out mom-and-pop businesses in favor of major chain stores. Carver and Rochefort thought for sure a change was coming, though, when North Carolina Governor Josh Stein signed the Supporting Community Retail Pharmacies and Improving Transparency, or SCRIPT Act into law last summer. The act’s purpose was to reform PBM practices, ensuring better reimbursement for stores like Cole’s Pharmacy, and making price transparency mandatory, and prioritizing customers’ freedom in choosing their preferred pharmacy. Although many of the provisions in the bill became effective as of July 9 and Oct. 1, Carver and Rochefort maintain that PBMs have yet to comply with the new legislation.
“Nothing has changed, and it is killing independent pharmacies,” Carver said.
The closure of Cole’s Pharmacy, a beloved institution, is a great loss for the community. An outpouring of sorrow and support followed the news both online and in store during those final days.
“Roxboro and Person County showed up and showed out,” Rochefort said, “Even people outside of the state were coming in.”
One of those out-of-towners that stopped in Friday was Chase Nelsen of Pinehurst, who made the two-hour drive not just for a good meal, but to honor a family legacy. Nelsen, who spent many a summer break working the shop’s soda fountain, is one of Cole’s six grandchildren.
“This meant a lot for my family, a lot of them couldn’t make it,” Nelsen said, “It’s a sad day, but everybody will remember it.”
A pharmacy, a family, a legacy
Cole’s Pharmacy has long emphasized its position as a family pharmacy, not only due to the generations of Coles and Carvers who have worked there, but because of the camaraderie and genuine care extended to each and every employee and customer. Cindy Kidd, a decorated cook who spent the last 11 years serving up delicious food with a smile at Cole’s Pharmacy, can attest to this firsthand.
“My husband passed away in 2014, and Robbie and James and the whole crew up there, they helped me so much,” Kidd said.
Kidd’s husband, Edwin “Nolan” Kidd, served as a deliveryman for the pharmacy for many years.
“It just means more to me than anything, because I could go to them for anything that I needed, and I appreciate having them there,” Kidd said.
A number of former employees made a point to have lunch and say their final thank-yous Friday afternoon, and each used that same word to describe the Cole’s Pharmacy team – “family”. Nicole Reid is one of many who found more than a job at the drugstore.
“James really took me under his wing, so did Mr. Cole, and we just wanted to show our support one last time,” she said.
Carver is proud that Cole’s Pharmacy has been a springboard for many productive citizens.
“There are so many former employees that have gone on to be very, very successful,” he said, “You have doctors, nurses, pharmacy techs, businesspeople, all walks of life that have gone on and made good.”
Although it was an extremely taxing and unfortunate day, Rochefort said she caught herself smiling throughout it as patrons shared their stories, their sorrow, and their gratitude with her and Carver.
“We were part of so many people’s traditions, and we didn’t know it,” she said, “The community will never know what they meant to us here. Each and every person that walked through the door, we appreciate them.”
Carver was overcome with emotion through his last shift, finding that the people that he and his team had poured so much love into had loved them right back. All of the work put in was never about returns or profits, but a higher calling to serve.
“I think that’s what God put us here for, to help everybody, and that was what Daddy told us to do,” Carver said.
Carver, Rochefort, and their children, have never known life without Cole’s Pharmacy. More than a workplace, it has been the home of their hearts.
“Any life event that has happened up to this point in our lives, the first place we go is always [Cole’s],” Rochefort said, “It’s always here. The birth of a kid, we come here. In deaths, we end up coming here. It’s just our go-to place, it always has been.”
It is their sacred space, and almost literally a museum of the legacy they had inherited. Old photographs litter the walls. Vintage cash registers and credit card imprinters serve as reminders of how much things have changed. Newspaper clippings and awards are proudly displayed at the lunch counter. A cardboard cutout of Elvis Presley stands as a physical manifestation of an inside joke (a teacher once told James he resembled a young Elvis). A golden pothos plant, gifted to the family in honor of their late grandmother, Nellie P. Carver, grows sprawling vines by the light of the storefront windows.
Bitter medicine, and a bittersweet farewell
A long, long story comes to a sudden and unfitting conclusion, and Rochefort, Carver, and their families are left, disappointed and downtrodden, to pick up the pieces. After the lights were switched off on Friday, and the doors were locked, Carver was sure that the snowflakes that fell silently outside Cole’s Pharmacy that night were the tears of James and Cole, shed from above.
What comes next for this family, still reeling, is uncertain. What they do know for sure is that they do not desire for the building to be vacant for long, and they are open to the idea of leasing the space.
“There’s a lot of families that depend on these businesses up here, and one less is going to take away a little foot traffic that might go to their place,” Carver said, “We don’t want it to sit empty. It’s a beautiful building. It’s the best spot in Roxboro, the best view.”
Nevertheless, they seem to be holding out hope that Cole’s Pharmacy may one day reopen.
“My son, Zach, is going to graduate pharmacy school in the spring of 2028,” Carver said, “I know it’s his desire to come back here, but unless things change dramatically with PBMs, this is not going to work… Things have got to change, and they might. In our lives, there’s peaks and valleys. Who knows? I mean, hell, bell bottom jeans used to be the thing, then they went away, and now they’ve come back, so why not independent pharmacies?”
No matter what may come to pass, a great, immeasurable impact has already been made through Cole’s Pharmacy, and the relationships forged there are anything but fleeting. Kidd said it best.
“It’s not ‘goodbye’, it’s ‘we’ll see you later’.”
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