Tinley Park Apothecary co-owner Omar Hassad said the company’s three owners loaned the business more than $70,000 last year to keep it going as costs have spiked in recent years. He said the owners have loaned the business more than $300,000 in 10 years.
Hassad said the reimbursements he receives for filling prescription drug orders aren’t enough to cover the cost for filling orders. He said the negative reimbursement costs and fees were $75,335 last year.
He attributes these increased costs to the rise of pharmacy benefit managers, which are companies that act as intermediaries among drugmakers, insurance corporations and pharmacies.
Now, Hassad said he is worried he might have to close his store at 17320 S. Oak Park Ave., the last independent apothecary in the area, after losing a tax break he relied on for a decade. With the incentive, his property tax bill would be $3,367 instead of $8,417.
He said independently owned pharmacies offer families affordable, timely and accessible medication, a service he said residents are at risk to lose.
“If we go out of business the public will suffer,” he said. “Accessibility, transparency, cheaper drugs, people who go above and beyond for the patient to ensure they get their medication, will be lost. We do not give up. We chase manufacturers to get coupons for them and do prior authorizaiton, we do everything.”
Resident Susan Patzowsky asked the Village Board Tuesday night to help keep the store open, as she, along with her children and grandchildren, rely on the store for medication.
“These people get your prescriptions to you quickly, honestly and fairly,” she said. “I haven’t seen Omar in a couple years at least, and he knew my name today. That’s the difference.”
Tinley Park Apothecary has benefited from a Class 8 incentive, which reduces the Cook County tax assessment rate from 25%, which is the rate applied to industrial and commercial property, to 10%, which is what homes are assessed at, for a period of 10 years.
The incentive is renewable, but Cook County requires municipalities to provide a resolution granting support. Tinley Park officials questioned Tuesday why they should renew.
Village Trustee Ken Shaw said while he understood Hassad’s tight margins created by pharmacy benefit managers, the tax incentive was intended to be temporary, and the business no longer meets the criteria.
Shaw said the incentive does not take into account profit margins or economic conditions and is strictly is about whether blight exists or a hardship exists in terms of vacancies. He said the tax break is a temporary incentive to spur redevelopment.
“I understand you already said up front that you operate on a very tight profit margin, but if your business model hasn’t prepared in these 10 years to absorb that, because this is not a guaranteed renewal, it never was,” he said. “It was always a temporary incentive.”
Shaw said when Hassad first occupied the building and received the incentive in 2015, he met the requirements because the building was vacant, but the building has since been redeveloped with two other businesses moving in.
Village Administrator Pat Carr said in a statement there have been significant redevelopments in downtown Tinley Park that increased foot traffic and density, which presents improved business opportunities.
Carr also said the village’s investment in Harmony Square, directly across the street from the apothecary, brought a quarter of a million visitors to the area in 2025, which benefited surrounding businesses, including Tinley Park Apothecary.
Shaw said the other businesses sharing the building pay the full $8,000 in taxes, and said the village cannot give special treatment specific property owners. He encouraged Hassad to pursue other funding options and contact the Tinley Park business retention specialist.
“Any break you get is being pushed off onto others, and as good stewards of the public’s funds, we have to consider that,” Shaw said.
Hassad said the other two businesses in the building, Rosin Eyecare and Chiropractic Wellness of Tinley Park, support his store receiving the tax break, as they understand his tight margins and want the store to stay open.
Hassad said increased drug prices in recent years have forced other independently owned pharmacies to close, such as Discount Drugs on 167th Street and Harlem and Tinley Park Pharmacy, that was located inside Advocate Medical Group.
awright@chicagotribune.com
