After eight years of serving the Rhode Island community, Green Line Apothecary has permanently closed its doors, so that owners, Ken and Christina Procaccianti, could spend more time with their kids.
Originally a way to create a modern version of the classic American drugstore, the Apothecary grew from a single location in Wakefield with four employees, to upward of 100 employees and a location in Providence within about eight years, according to Ken Procaccianti. The Apothecary has since evolved into various different ventures.
“It was an opportunity for us to exit the aspect of the business that was the most time consuming and create a work-life balance that enables us to be more engaged and active parents,” Ken Procaccianti said. “On the business side of things, it was an opportunity for us to realize some value from all the hard work that we’ve put in these past many years.”
The name “Green Line Apothecary” was inspired by the moment the owners first met. Both students at Northeastern University, they had a chance encounter on the Green Line train, in Boston, and got to know each other more. Christina, a pharmacy student, and Ken, a marketing student, combined their two areas of expertise to make the business successful, according to Ken Procaccianti.
“We were inspired by Christina’s childhood,” Ken Procaccianti said. “Her dad was a salesperson for Hallmark and his sales territory included mom and pop pharmacies, so when we created our own pharmacies it was with those family owned community fixtures from her childhood in mind.”
The Apothecary provided both drugstore staples and homeopathic alternatives to consumers, according to Ken Procaccianti. They aimed to seek out local, natural and herbal products that people frequent pharmacies for.
Town Made, Green Line Supply and Green Line Ice Cream are just a few of the other business ventures that Green Line Apothecary lives on through in the community. Green Line Apothecary famously featured soda fountains, which was a way to connect to the history of mom and pop drugstores and was made into a centerpiece within the stores. These soda fountains were used in the manufacturing of Green Line Ice Cream, which continues to be produced and sold in over 25 grocery stores in the state of Rhode Island.
“We’re proud of it,” Ken Procaccianti said. “We really pride ourselves in using good, clean ingredients and everything’s natural and organic whenever possible.”
Green Line Ice Cream is partnering with other iconic Rhode Island brands on flavor collaborations including Bananagrams, based on a Rhode Island toy shop, Candy Monster, which partners with the Hasbro Children’s Hospital, and Sweenor’s Chocolates, a fourth generation Rhode Island candy shop, according to Ken Procaccianti.
“It’s a fun business and there’s a lot of taste testing, which can get hard, but we sacrifice to make sure all this ice cream is really well done,” Ken Procaccianti said.
Town Made, the second business operation, is a food incubator where their ice cream is manufactured; the space is also made available to other food entrepreneurs.
Green Line Supply is their closed-door pharmacy business, which entails a pharmacy team embedded at healthcare facilities, known as PACE. The pharmacy team works closely with healthcare professionals to deliver care and medication services to members of the PACE program.
In the future, the Procacciantis hope to take in more pharmacy interns from URI who can work at the Green Line Supply practice and to bring their ice cream to campus.
