Pungo River Pharmacy

Pungo River Pharmacy is still owned and operated by the Ellis family. It is located in the coastal community of Belhaven, North Carolina. It has moved to the Food Lion Shopping Center on the bypass around town; right next to Andy's Cheesesteaks.

We continue to provide the best hometown pharmacy care while remaining both reliable and fast. We have expanded our services to include a full line of home health equipment and we also have a Certified Orthotic Fitter who can assist you with proper leg supports. Pungo River stocks an extensive variety of home medical equipment which you can view in the store or choose from in a catelog. Links to what we carry or can order can be found in the Medical Equipment link to the side.

We also supply a variety of diabetic supplies including your standard needles and glucose monitors, and also sugar free candies and recipes. If you don't find what you are looking for, we would be glad to order it for you and have it in the next day.

Pungo River Pharmacy holds health fairs 3 or 4 times a year. These fairs can include hearing and vision, diabetes, blood pressure, and influenza vaccinations.

Pharmacy Past

Pungo River Pharmacy was started in 1971 by James "Jim" Ellis. Jim was born in 1922 in Cinncinnati, Ohio. His uncle Charlie put him through pharmacy school after World War II. Jim worked as a pharmacist for Walgreens during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966, he felt the call of the ministry and went to Divinity School at Duke. He worked for 5 years as a Methodist minister in the Belhaven and Bath region. Jim decided to go back to pharmacy in 1971, but he still remained heavily involved in his church.

Scott Ellis, the son of Jim Ellis, started working in Pungo River Pharmacy when it opened. He worked there up until he graduated from John A. Wilkinson High School. He then went to a bible college in upstate New York, and worked in a drug rehabilitation clinic in Pompano Beach, Florida. Two years later he decided he wanted to become a pharmacist and started his college education. Scott got his pharmacy degree at UNC Chapel Hill, and became the owner and manager of Pungo River in 1985.