Businessman plans to open pharmacy on 22nd Street S

The business will complement a new health center that is set to open in December.

ST. PETERSBURG - During the years of its heyday as the African-American community's main business thoroughfare, 22nd Street S boasted several pharmacies. The last one closed in the 1980s as business on the street lurched into decline.

A new pharmacy, the first in nearly a generation, is on the way.

Olu Oyekoya plans to open the pharmacy in early January at 1311 22nd St. S, across the street from the new Johnnie Ruth Clarke Health Center. The health center is scheduled to open in December.

"We have some friends in the area and they said we should call St. Pete, that there are a lot of people there," said Oyekoya, who has lived in Tampa for 10 years and operates the F&B Pharmacy on Nebraska Avenue.

"We came over three years ago and the place looked dead. We talked to people to buy property, but they were asking too much money. Then we heard about the health center, and what they need now is a pharmacy."

Oyekoya has leased 1,450 square feet in the front of the old Jones Service Station, which is closed. The Blue Star taxi company still operates in the rear, and the company owns the building.

The pharmacy's main job will be filling prescriptions, Oyekoya said, and it will offer a delivery service. Light snacks will be sold.

"We'll have a little bit of a convenience store, but not too much of that," said Oyekoya, who is originally from Nigeria.

He said he hopes to be able to purchase nearby property later and put up a new building for the pharmacy.

The enterprise goes along with what city officials hoped would happen on 22nd Street: developments such as the health center generating new businesses.

The street is a major target for redevelopment. The city last week announced that Kash n' Karry will anchor a $4.9-million shopping center planned for the northeast corner of 22nd Street and 18th Avenue S.

The last drugstore on 22nd Street was Doctor's Pharmacy, which operated in the Wimbish Building at 1421 22nd St. S.

Accountant David Welch, a former City Council member, helped negotiate the deal to lease the space for the new one.

Oyekoya was "surprised there was a need" for a pharmacy in the neighborhood, Welch said.

The city's business development center also provided the budding enterprise some guidance, said city economic development planner Shrimatee Ojah-Maharaj.

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