RACINE - The Aurora Pharmacy located in Sentry Foods, 5740 Washington Ave., will close Friday at 3 p.m. after two and a half years of operation from that location.

"We're sad it's going and we're going to miss the customers," said Shelly Vielie, managing pharmacist. "They're really our friends."

Vielie said the pharmacy, operated by Aurora Health Care, is being closed because the parent organization is moving toward more traditional pharmacy locations like those within clinics.

"Aurora is getting out of the pharmacies that have been in supermarkets," Vielie said.

He and the four other staff members at the pharmacy found out Oct. 27 at 7 a.m. that their location was closing. By 9 a.m. that day they were notifying customers.

All of the pharmacy's prescription files have been sold to Walgreens and, after Saturday, former Aurora Pharmacy customers can go to any Walgreens for service, Vielie said, adding that such a sale is standard practice when a pharmacy closes.

Vielie and the other staff will be moved to other Aurora Pharmacy locations and Sentry Foods is looking for another pharmacy to fill the soon-to-be vacant space, Vielie said.