Oak Lawn Pharmacy manager Kelly Salinas
New owner has recommitted the company to serve the LGBTQ community
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
Oak Lawn Pharmacy on Lemmon Avenue (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
Oak Lawn Pharmacy on Lemmon Avenue is under new ownership and has resumed the community-based, full service treatment for the LGBTQ community that it has been known for, according to company officials. “Since last fall, we’ve tried to build back to what we were when we opened in 2010,” manager Kelly Salinas said this week.
In 2010, the company opened as Pride Pharmacy in an office building on Carlisle Street in Oak Lawn that also housed Uptown Physicians Group. The plan was to locate in buildings with a large HIV medical practice, specialize in HIV medications and also offer a full line of prescription drugs while providing the kind of customer service missing from national chains.
The idea for Pride Pharmacy came when a friend of the original owner said he’d give anything to not trip over boxes of Pampers to get to the pharmacist. Instead, customers walked into something more like a living room. And the living room and an adjoining conference room were available to community groups for meetings.
That meeting space is returning to Oak Lawn Pharmacy.
The space next door to the pharmacy became available, so the new owners rented it. Salinas named the new space The Space Next Door and dubbed it an information and referral clearinghouse.
Just this week, the space has been used for a meeting to discuss new forms of PrEP available including injectables, and Parkland will be using the space next month for free testing.
But the space is also available to community groups that need a place to meet.
In 2020, the store relocated to its current Lemmon Avenue strip mall location and rebranded as Oak Lawn Pharmacy. But it didn’t have the volume of business necessary to obtain HIV meds at a discounted price. So the company had to send its customers on name-brand drugs to other pharmacies, and by last fall, the pharmacy was on the verge of closing.
But Salinas wants the community to know that has changed.
“We now carry anti-retrovirals,” Salinas said, adding that the drugstore is back to being a full-service pharmacy offering not just brand name and generic HIV medications, but other meds you would get from a pharmacist, too.
Delivery is free and “Pride packs” are available: Rather than coming in a bottle, meds can be delivered in daily blister packs — multi-dose packaging that bundles medications together by date and time.
“We’re not a national chain,” Salinas said. “We don’t have a corporate office. New leadership is really committed to restoring service to the community we were intended to serve.”
Salinas kept throwing out tips she wants the community to know. Younger people hesitate to get tested for HIV when we know getting into treatment early saves lives. “If you’re on your parent’s insurance, you can get tested, and they’ll never know,” she said. That information doesn’t appear on any statement the policyholder receives.
One last fun thing about Oak Lawn Pharmacy: They’re looking for artists to exhibit their work. If you would like to exhibit, contact Kelly Salinas at 225-773-0750 or Kelly@OakLawnPharmacy.com or stop by the drugstore at 4003 Lemmon Ave.
