Ciampa Apothecary

My grandfather and I came here browsing for some medical supplies. The collection was outstanding compared to all the other pharmacies I’ve been to. The main reason I am posting a review is because the service we had was amazing. The pharmacist was a paragon of virtue and patience, debonair in his sincere attempt at helping my grandfather find exactly what he needed. I am also a physician in Cambridge and now realize why many of my patients prefer to receive their medications from this pharmacy.
Note: you can park right in front of the pharmacy in the loading spot if you let the pharmacist know.

It’s so great when I find local, family owned businesses which have been around for over 3 generations. There’s something wonderful about the level of care and attention to detail one received from your neighbors. Who else would deliver your prescriptions to your door for free and with a smile?
So it was with Ciampa Apothecary. My grandmother, a neighbor, has been going to them throughout the 3 generations and has only good things to say about the first two generations and having been involved with her medications I would agree. So it WAS.
This all seems well and good, but there’s definitely a downward spiral that tends to happen as the torch gets passed down through the generations. The passion for the business fades as the original owner hands it off to unwanting kids or nephews. There’s a lot of pressure to maintain the tradition and sometimes further generations really don’t want to do what their dads, uncles and dad’s dads did.
This all brings me to my recent interactions with Ciampa Apothecary.
I recently ordered a medication for my grandmother and went and picked it up. Taking it home, I read the label that prescribed «once a day» — I started to place the pills into the daily compartments of her pill tray. It was only then that I glanced over at the actual box the medication came in that read «weekly». Really?! Thankfully, there’s a PA in the family and a quick check revealed that the medication should only be taken once a week. Really?! What sort of quality control processes let that pass by? I could have been handing out the wrong doses. I dismissed this as a fluke change, but have started to have more and more issues.
Just this past week, I called in a prescription for 3 medications on a Friday to be delivered. When Wednesday, yes 5 days later, came and the prescription still hadn’t been delivered, I called back in the early afternoon and was told that the delivery guy was out. I waited patiently until around 7:30 knowing that they closed at 8pm and was greeted by a rude younger individual at the other end of the phone who blamed me for the lateness of the prescription saying that my grandmother wasn’t on the regular deliver list. I kept my cool and waited. I went over and checked at 10:30pm without any delivery. When I went over again at 11:30pm, the medication was there, but it seems only two of the three had been delivered even though there was a slip and a bill for the medication. It’s a little disconcerting to see this lack of quality control once again and also to be billed for it! Medication is a serious concern, especially for the elderly, and this sort of lackadaisical attitude can literally kill someone.
I hope the good folks at Ciampa Apothecary take a quick scan at this review and can rekindle some of their passion. There aren’t that many local, family owned businesses around.

Most of the prescriptions that my doctors send to Ciampa vanish into thin air. «Uh, we never got it.» It’s no fun to have to replace a controlled substance prescription that your physician paper mailed to Ciampa, which mysteriously never arrived. It’s maddening because they are the only pharmacy in the area who package and deliver prescriptions, and I have a lot of pills to manage. Their weekly deliveries are often late. When one of my doctors tried to phone in a change in a prescription, whoever answered the phone convinced her that I didn’t need the prescription. It took me a week to figure out what happened. If you deal with them, always get the name of the person who helped you so you know who to blame.
Edit: Another pharmacist told me that Ciampa management has recently passed from father to son.

i love this place. after years of going to my impersonal and cold neighborhood walgreens pharmacy, it’s a real breath of fresh air to have a friendly pharmacist who knows me. i’ve been coming to the apothecary for over a year now, and wouldn’t go anywhere else in the boston/​cambridge area.
joe (the owner) and his staff are extremely personable, professional, and helpful.
case in point:
i am moving abroad in a week and currently do not have american health insurance. i usually buy one of my prescriptions in two-​month dosages, but wasn’t sure that i would be able to afford one, let alone two, month’s worth without my insurance. i explained this to joe, and he said he would «see what he could do» to get me the lowest price possible. it turned out he was able to get it for me for just $ 5 more than i usually paid with my insurance co-​pay.
since it was much less expensive than i expected, i explained that i was moving abroad and was hoping to get as many months’ worth of my prescription as possible. after some friendly and genuine chatter about my upcoming adventure across the pond, joe informed me that i could ask my doctor to prescribe me a year’s worth of medication.
i requested this new prescription from my doctor, and half an hour later received a call from joe at ciampa apothecary saying that he had received the prescription and would have the year-​long supply ready for me the following day.
a few hours later, i found out that i can get this very same prescription abroad for free. fairly embarrassed after all the hassle, i called ciampa to explain that i would not need the year’s worth of medication after all. the staff member that i talked to was very understanding, asked about my plans abroad, and said it wasn’t a problem at all. phew!
i love these guys.

There Are Better Boutique Pharmacies
One of the Messrs. Ciampa was so rude to me I asked him, «Are you *trying* to lose my business?» His reply: a grunt. Manners aside, Ciampa’s execution is not as crisp, rapid and clean as some of its boutique pharmacy competitiors, such as Pierce Apothecary in Brookline or Sullivan’s Pharmacy in Roslindale. Further, upon being asked to deliver, they grumble. They beat the huge retail chains, of course, but that’s not hard to do. If you’re at the point where you feel you need a boutique pharmacy, find an alternative.

When I see words like ON SALE, BOOKS or FREE DRINKS on the awning of a local business, I’m on fire.
When I see words like COMMODES, HOSPITAL BEDS, OSTOMY and OSCOPY SUPPLIES staring me in the face, I want to turn around and sprint to the nearest Happy Hour, even if Happy Hours are banned in Boston.
Facing major joint surgery, I forced myself into Ciampa Apothecary for some frank talk. After all, this is my local pharmacy and I needed someone to talk to about very personal things. I just couldn’t have these conversations with the guys at Rite Aid.
This is not the place to go to for divine, scented body wash, bubble bath or shampoo. It is not the place to go for a root beer float like a Norman Rockwell style apothecary. But it is the place to go when your doctor tells you to stock up on all kinds of embarrassing things for your lengthy recovery period when you will be immobile and dependent on others for everything. Everything.
Within two minutes I was comparing canes, walkers and raised toilet seat options. After showing me what they have, I was told that they can also order anything (some items can actually match the color palette in your bathroom) and that they deliver.
Lots of sweet, old people hang out in here, sitting on the chairs that rim the room. Like many small, local businesses, this apothecary serves as a gathering spot for a few of the over 60 crowd. Not sure I will ever feel so inclined no matter how old I get, but for a temporary relationship, I am good.
After my total knee replacement, we stopped off at Ciampa to fill my prescriptions before heading home. (Be sure to have your ID on file if you are going to be ordering major pain killers.) Since then, the folks at Ciampa have cheerfully delivered a few other items that help with the side effects of the strong narcotics flowing through my body.
A local, family owned business, helping me get through a painful experience… I have a nice new friend down the street.

Always quick and friendly. When they say your med will be ready in 15 minutes they mean 5 — unless you are going to leave and come back — which they then make it 15. Also it is priced reasonably and have offered discounts when they’ve seen a med is very highly priced.

I am all about supporting local businesses, but this pharmacy /​apothecary needs a MAJOR update! I recently went in to get a prescription filled because my normal pharmacy did not have what I needed-​so I thought I would give the local «no name pharmacy» a shot. Anyway, you would think that a place that distributes medication and various other medical supplies would be clean! When I went in, I saw a cat, yes… a cat with what appeared to be a dead mouse in his mouth! My husband assured me it was a rubber toy mouse, but regardless — it was disgusting. Needless to say, I will not be visiting this pharmacy anytime soon!

love supporting local biz, and it’s a great trip down medical lane… any geriatric item you can imagine, and then some.
the people who work there are friendly and it seems to be priced like the other places.
it’s just fun to get meds from an apothecary! sounds magical.

I can promise you I wouldn’t go anywhere else in Cambridge to buy a colostomy bag.
However… I would go anywhere else to buy other wellness and medical paraphernalia, because nothing in this place is reasonably priced. Which side of the tracks do you think you’re on, Ciampa?

Picture this:
Dear Daniel here is being the kind, gentle soul that he is (no, this is not a joke shut up) and helping a lady-​person install her window AC unit so that she does not die of heat stroke. Daniel has the beast in the window and is wiggling it in to place (technical term obvs). Lady-​person thinking Daniel and she are «communicating non-​verbally» opens the freaking window causing the AC unit to fall out, crashing on the roof below and slashing Daniel’s arm emo-​style. Awesome, no?
Gets better.
Having done what any sane person would have done (cleaned and bandaged the wound) Daniel proceeded to milk the situation for what it was worth. Umm, hello, he looked like: Daniel, Interrupted. Boo.
Cut to two days later: Wound, not healing. Bandages, causing weird itchiness. Hmmm. So the guilty party buys some name-​brand bandages ’cause maybe it’s the CVS crap causing the irritation. Turns out it’s not. Daniel, Interrupted happens to be allergic to band-​aid adhesive.
So…after ending up with a wicked rash and calling in to work Daniel pops two Benadryl and heads to the local apothecary to find something, ANYTHING to help. Looped out of his mind he stumbles in to Ciampa asking for assistance. The staff is friendly and helps him find something for allergic freaks like himself, and in mere minutes he is on the street again ready to tend to his wounds. Sadly, he doesn’t realize until the next day that he spent $ 22. On bandages.
Lesson: don’t do drugs and shop. Also, no matter how nice they are girls are mean and will attack you even when you are trying to help them out.

It may seem weird, but I was a bit apprehensive the first time I entered this place. I come from a state where apothecaries have gone the way of soda shops and milk men. A land where drugs of both under and over the counter are bought from places such as Walgreen’s and CVS, and such places are often across the street from each other. The concept of a pharmacy where one gets medication without their weekly groceries just sounded weird to me, but luckily for both me and Ciampa, my girl friend the lovely Miss Dachary C. is a klutz.
You see my dear friends; several months back my better half took a bit of a fall and twisted her leg into shapes usually reserved for French Canadian acrobats. Being the loving and fantastic boyfriend I am I offered to track down some crutches for her so she would still be able to hobble around for a few days until she could med, so I made a quick across the street to see what I could find.
I was a bit taken back at first, the place smelled a bit like a hospital, and lacked the family friendly top 40 radio coming over store speakers that I was used to. Then something strange happened, a friendly young lady willingly asked me if I needed anything and gladly helped me find some adjustable crutches. Normally I would have expected to wander around for 20 minutes looking for the either the crutches, or someone who was both willing and able to help me find them. Not at Ciampa, the minute I walked through the door I was greeted, helped and was able to leave in record time with exactly what I needed, no attempt to up-​sell or send me home with a wheel chair.
Eventually I needed some medical attention my self, and decided to use Ciampa to fill my scrips. They offered to let me wait the standard 15 minutes that all pharmacy’s offer. The only difference is that instead of leaving me wondering what was taking 45 minutes longer then they had told me it would take, they actually came back out after only 5 minutes and had everything filled for me. I’ve been back several times since then, and each time someone is quick to help me, and they always get me on my way in 10 minutes or less.