Politicians mourn closure of Long's Drug Store on Jan. 16 | Georgiana Vines

(Correction: An earlier version of this column misstated how long U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett has held the 2nd Congressional District seat. We regret the error.)

“Meet me at Long’s” was the mantra of those planning to go to the drugstore in Bearden, particularly among politicians and candidates who wanted to talk and be seen.

Both Democrats and Republicans, who met there for just coffee or breakfast or lunch, say they are sad that Long’s Drug Store in the Kingston Pike Shopping Center will close on Jan. 16. Business owner and chief pharmacist Hank Peck cited increasing control that insurance companies have over health care for independent operations like Long’s that are not part of a chain.

Members of the Long family are sad, too, with former Knoxville City Council member Janet Testerman calling the closing “a travesty.” The pharmacy was founded by her grandfather, Clarence Long, in the 1950s before she was born, she said in a Thursday phone interview. Her mother, Janet Long Testerman Crossley, is 89 and has been having breakfast at Long’s on Saturdays a long time. “It’s part of her legacy,” Testerman said.

Democrat Randy Nichols, a former Knox County attorney general, is among those who’ve had political meetings at the drugstore. “If it was a campaign (season), we talked about who we thought had the best chance to win, who should win. We were just really gabbing and a little gossip.”

Nichols said he tried not to make any decisions at Long’s. “I’d at least wait until I got back to the office. It was just a nice place. You could have conversations and could hear but couldn’t eavesdrop. It was a happy place for me,” he said.

Nichols didn’t meet with just Democrats at Long’s. In 2009, his friend, Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons, was seeking the Republican nomination for governor when the two had breakfast at the drugstore.“I told Bill Gibbons that Long’s is where we want to be,” Nichols recalled.

While retired as the county’s top prosecutor, Nichols is still working – for Republican Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler. He said he does training, teaches in an academy and is at the table with the county law director or a representative when the sheriff gets sued.

Foster Arnett Jr., a Republican who served as Knox County clerk and then was term limited, said he used to go into the drugstore early enough in the morning to help out.

“Ruth Pate was starting up the grill, I put the coffee pot on, and then talked to Hank. That’s part of what we did,” Arnett said. He started going there with his parents as a kid when they went for medicine and then started having breakfast there with fraternity brothers.

“It’s where I went after Little League ballgames. It was a wonderful place and a part of my life for 57 years. I met people there to talk about campaigns but didn’t have any events,” Arnett said.

He said when he was with his fraternity brothers, “We had a no-girls allowed policy, but the girls came anyway. We celebrated holidays, birthdays. It was a second home.”

The politicians who came to the drugstore have included two congressmen, John J. “Jimmy” Duncan Jr. and Tim Burchett. Peck said Bill Haslam, when Knoxville mayor, announced what became his successful campaign for governor at Long’s.

“The Haslams love the store. I’ve been grateful,” Peck said.

Burchett, a Republican who was in the Tennessee General Assembly and was Knox County mayor before being elected to represent the 2nd Congressional District upon Duncan’s retirement, frequented Long's and even had an outdoor fundraiser there during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We didn’t open the store. We used pop-up tents. The girls served hotdogs and drinks. There was a car line around the shopping center. Tim’s group was working everybody. It was lots of fun,” Peck said.

Duncan also came by the drugstore often during his political career and ended up playing an important role during the store’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2006, Peck said. He said a black shirt was designed with the letter "L" as a grey logo, similar to the way the letter "W" was used by former President George W. Bush to distinguish himself from his father, George H.W. Bush.

“I took one of the shirts and gave it to Jimmy Duncan. I told him to take it back to Washington and give it to the president. He hesitated. I said, ‘It’s just a shirt,’ ” Peck said.

Duncan took it and shortly thereafter Peck said he “got a response from the White House. It included a note by George W.” There was an understanding that it was not to be put on the wall at the drugstore, Peck said, but he’s kept it.

The history of Long’s is that Clarence Long was working at Ellis & Ernest Drug Store on Cumberland Avenue when approached by owners of the White Stores Grocery, now Food City, to open a drugstore in what would be Knoxville’s first shopping center. Long opened the store in March 1956. Peck’s father, Jim, became a pharmacist and eventually bought the store with his brother, Ed, from Long’s wife, Margaret, after her husband’s death in the mid-1960s.

Testerman, whose late father, Kyle, was Knoxville mayor for two terms, said during her own political involvements in campaigns that she never had a fundraising event at Long’s but certainly had plenty of meetings. “It was a place to go. A lot of people were there. The patrons care about this community,” she said.

She said she was disappointed that Peck didn’t extend a “simple courtesy” to her mother and aunt, Margaret Ann Long Duffy, about the store closing before it was announced on Tuesday.

“It is heartbreaking and a loss for the entire community. It’s truly unfortunate if every option was not explored to keep Long’s open and determine the next generation of the business,” she said. She said the family cares about the people who have been “the face” of the business and want them to land well in the future.

Peck said he explored every option he could. He said the COVID-19 pandemic also was challenging.

“Over the years, businesses and chains alike called and asked if I wanted to sell. The problem mostly has been insurance companies made this very difficult. When everything is said done, if we could have made that happen, it would have been my main priority to keep it open,” he said.

The business’ records will be moved to the CVS location at Kingston Pike and Northshore Drive.

“I’m going to move with that transition. It’s my home. I’m a product of this community. It will not be the first time that I’m in a corporate or chain environment,” Peck said.

He also predicted 2024 will only be worse for small drugstores like Long’s, given changes in health care.

∎ A CHAT WITH THE NEW VICE MAYOR: Newly elected Knoxville Vice Mayor Tommy Smith says January and February are going to be action-oriented with a council-only retreat and workshops and meetings on mental health, housing and planning priorities.

Smith, who has served on Knoxville City Council for almost four years, was elected by his fellow council members in December following the swearing in of Mayor Indya Kincannon to a second term; council members; and city judge. He succeeded Andrew Roberto, who sought a second term as vice mayor but didn’t get enough votes on the first ballot. He asked that Smith be elected unanimously, which he was.

Smith pointed out that both City Council and Knox County Commission have shown support for dealing with mental-health and substance-abuse care when they passed identical resolutions asking state lawmakers for more mental-health services during the special legislative session in the fall. That didn’t happen, but since then, local legislators have asked the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to study whether Knox County residents need a new state-run treatment facility.

Kincannon is expected to have a proposal for dealing with housing issues, on which there will be a workshop in February. “Housing will consume a lot of council’s time for a few years,” Smith said in an interview Wednesday. “We have to make sure we have a comprehensive plan.”He also said planning issues, such as zoning and land use, come before council that don’t necessary go before the mayor. “We alone can have a final vote,” he said, adding he believes council should have a set of planning priorities.

These and other topics will be taken up at the council retreat in February. There also will be a mayor’s budget retreat in February, he said.

∎ CAMPAIGN LAUNCH: Jane George, a small-business owner in the health and wellness field, will launch a campaign for the Democratic nomination for the 2nd Congressional District on Jan. 24 at the Bistro by the Bijou. The event will run 6-8 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Knoxville Republican, has held the seat for five years.

George previously ran for the state senate and lost to incumbent Republican Sen. Becky Duncan Massey. She has a doctorate from the former Cleveland Chiropractic College-Los Angeles; a master’s degree in biology from the University of California at Los Angeles; and a bachelor’s degree in biology with training in women’s studies at UCLA.

George is a functional medicine chiropractor and owns a health and wellness shop.

∎ PUBLIC FORUM WITH LAWMAKERS: The East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the League of Women Voters of Knoxville/Knox County will hold their annual forum with the Knox County legislative delegation on Jan. 20 at the YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Center, 124 S. Cruze St.

Jesse Fox Mayshark, co-founder of Compass, will be moderator of the forum, which will run from 9-10:30 a.m. Coffee and breakfast bagels and pastries will be available at 8:30 a.m. and are free while they last. The event is open to the public.

∎ DOCTOR’S ORDER: Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican who represents a portion of Knox County, will be absent the first few weeks of the upcoming legislative session beginning Jan. 9. A statement from his office said he is recovering from successful ankle surgery.In his absence, Speaker Pro Tempore Ferrell Haile of Gallatin and Deputy Speakers Dawn White and Shane Reeves of Murfreesboro and John Stevens of Huntingdon, all Republicans, will preside over floor sessions.

Georgiana Vines is retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Politicians mourn closure of Long's Drug Store | Georgiana Vines