Willard Stimpson opened his independent Cut Rate Pharmacy 34 years ago on N. Hampton Road in West Dallas. But now he is out of business, reluctantly closing for good.
"I don't want to go,” Stimpson said. “I don't want to go, but I have to go. I've been forced out in a sense."
There are several reasons why, but one reason is simply because of change. The neighborhood is changing and as an independent business, he can’t do everything required to keep up.
"After being here for 34 years, I can see a big difference in the dynamics of the construction taking place in the area,” Stimpson said. “And it's kind of rooting out the little bitty persons and the independents."
With chain drugstores and big box stores everywhere, people simply stopped coming to Cut Rate. Plus, West Dallas has in recent years started transforming from a series of rundown and under-served neighborhoods, to a center of urban revitilization.
Development has led to better food markets, improved housing and new neighborhoods -- like the trendy Trinity Groves area at the base of the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge.
“It's a very beautiful view when you look back toward downtown Dallas.”
That’s all good, Stimpson says. But he fears some of his customers left the area to make room for development. And closing his business means the city loses another independent pharmacist.
"They're going to keep moving, they're going to redevelop this whole area,” Stimpson said. “I don't know what's going to happen, I won't be here to see it. I hate I won't be here -- but for 34 years, I've had my share of knowing what West Dallas is like."
