BY FACEBOY | London, Paris, eternal kittens and free drugs. It sounds like a dream — but it’s quite real, as my first NYCritters column for Chelsea Now will set out to explain.
I had heard about an intriguing cat residing in a health food store in Chelsea and headed up to get the story. Once there, I remembered that I never write about animals that live in food shops, because the health department seems to think that cats are as much a health hazard as the mice, rats and roaches they keep at bay — and I will not rat on a cat.
So there I was with no story and no umbrella when, of course, it started pouring rain. I quickly ducked into New London Pharmacy, and what did I see? A beautiful cat named London, who lives there with her sister, named Paris.
General Manager Eleni Argyrus tells us that she adopted them from The North Shore Animal League in 2006 as kittens.
“It was love at first site for the staff, the employees and the customers,” she recalls. We do have a couple of customers that are afraid of cats, but most of our customers are literally obsessed with our cats. When I say obsessed, I mean customers come with treats to feed London and Paris.”
They are big cats. Argyrus notes, “As you can see, they are well-fed. We do have them on a Science Diet. They love their meals. In 2008, I was away for couple of months and the person that was feeding was kind of over-feeding them.”
London and Paris both hate dogs. I asked Argyrus to elaborate, and she explained that London will go the extra mile to show she hates them.
“London will smack the dog with her paw,” she says, adding, “We had incidents, unfortunately, that London has scratched a little bit. Thank God New Yorkers are animal lovers. You know, just because the customer has a dog doesn’t mean he hates cats, so they’ll be like, ‘Don’t worry about it. She’ll be fine, the dog.’ ” She concludes, evoking the French resistance,: “Paris doesn’t really do that much. She’ll just walk away. London does all the fighting.”
Like most cats, they are very loving and intuitive. Argyrus says, “What I love about Paris and London…we have three chairs in the waiting area, and while the customer is waiting — they could be getting over a cold, they could be just waiting for their regular monthly prescriptions. But when that elderly lady is sitting on that chair, and then all of sudden London jumps on [her] lap, the customer loves it. You know she could be upset about something or not feeling well, but you have London purring and pressing on you, with a ‘Pet me more. Pet me more,’ kind of thing, and I feel that customer leaves the store not only with a great thought from the pharmacy point of view, but also from, ‘Hey you know, I got a lot of love from London today.’ You know what I mean? I certainly do.”
When asked if they had any quirks, Argyrus replies, “Okay, they’re nine years old but they act like kittens. They play all day long. They ARE kittens. You probably know more about that than I do — but do they ever grow out of that stage, ever?” I told her that if they’re in a loving environment and they’re healthy, if that’s their nature, they will act like kittens forever.
Medications, especially those for HIV, are very expensive — but what many people don’t know is that there are coupon codes that those eligible can use to cover the co-pay. At New London Pharmacy, they will check without the customer even asking — and often, folks can get the entire costs of their medications covered.
So if you’re having hardships, give them a visit and brag to your friends, “I just saw London and Paris. Oh, and I got some very costly drugs for free.” Top it off with, “And how was your day?”
Don’t wait for a response. Just smile and saunter of in a Parisian cat-walk style.
New London Pharmacy is located at 246 Eighth Ave. (btw. W. 22nd & W. 23rd Sts.). You can visit the cats and have all your pharmaceutical needs met Mon.–Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m.–8 p.m. and Sun., 10 a.m. –6:30 p.m., For further information, visit newlondonpharmacy.com.
