Fred’s Super Dollar has purchased Price Pharmacy in Brundidge and the transition will take place next Thursday.

Price Pharmacy is owned and operated by Kay Seay of the Tarentum community. Seay declined to comment on the transaction.

Josh Russell, Fred’s pharmacy marketing manager, said Fred’s Pharmacy will be located in the Price Pharmacy building.

“Fred’s Pharmacy will be in the same place and have the same staff as the Price Pharmacy,” Russell said. “We are excited to be in Brundidge and look forward to being a part of the business community.”

Russell said Fred’s likes to locate in small, rural communities where there is a personal relationship between the pharmacy and the patients.

“Brundidge is a small, close-knit community and will be a good fit with Fred’s Pharmacies,” he said.

The rumor mill has been churning in Brundidge with curiosity about the future of the “drug store” business in the city.

Although she would not confirm the future of her business on the record, there has been talk that Melanie Hawkins, owner of Hawkins Drugs, is also considering selling her businesses to Fred’s Super Dollar.

Russell said he couldn’t comment on Hawkins Drug at this time.

“I guess having Fred’s would be a double-edged sword,” said Dorthea Dow, Brundidge Business Association president. “It would be good to have a new business but we would lose businesses that have been here for a while.”

City Councilman Arthur Griffin said he is unaware of any plans regarding Fred’s and Main Street property sales.

Stanley Garrett, owner of the former Grandma’s Kitchen property, told The Messenger on Thursday that he is under contract with a company who wants to purchase the property and he is seeking a parking variance from the City of Brundidge’s Board of Adjustments. He declined to name the company who might purchase Grandma’s Kitchen.

Speculation in Brundidge had been that the location of the new Fred’s would be the former site of Grandma’s Kitchen on South Main Street, but Russell said he is not aware of any plans for Fred’s to purchase Garrett’s property.

The board of adjustments will hold a public hearing on the Grandma’s Kitchen variance issue at 6 p.m. April 1 at Brundidge City Hall followed by a meeting of the board.

Fred’s is a regional chain of discount retail stores in the Southeast, some of which include a pharmacy. The company is based in Memphis, Tenn.