Arash Kohan is bringing small-town care to Coronado with Crown Coast Pharmacy. Kohan has been a pharmacist in Coronado for 15 years. He graduated from Wingate University School of Pharmacy in North Carolina, then returned to San Diego because, “I missed the beach,” he laughs.
Crown Coast Pharmacy will be run by Kohan as owner and pharmacist in charge. His team includes Elsie Molenaar (pharmacy technician) and Ryan Hylton (pharmacy technician). They plan to open at 928 Orange Ave. before the end of the year.
Building a team in Coronado
Years ago, when a position opened up at Rite Aid in Coronado, Kohan jumped at the opportunity. “We used to come and bodyboard when I was little. It was very sentimental to join the community. I became the pharmacist here, then the pharmacy manager, and slowly integrated into the community. I got to know my customers really well on a personal level, and saw kids grow up and people get older. After 15 years, I really got to know them well.”
In addition to getting to know the customers, Kohan takes pride in the team he built. “They were efficient and friendly. They had their own people. Customers would come and seek out individual members of my team. It was a very positive environment.”
Rite Aid closure
There had been community uncertainty about the business health of Rite Aid in recent years. Although there was an anticipated concern when Walgreens opened across the street in November 2012, both businesses were able to support themselves for many years. Then, in 2015, there was an announcement that Walgreens was going to buy Rite Aid in a $17.2 billion deal, although that deal did not go through as originally planned.
Ultimately, deals to acquire Rite Aids across the nation had nothing to do with the Coronado location in particular. But after an initial Rite Aid bankruptcy filing in August 2023, the shelves in the Coronado store were barely stocked. Then in May 2025, SF Gate reported: “Pharmacy giant Rite Aid could close every last one of its California stores after filing for bankruptcy for a second time last week and announcing plans to shutter all of its locations and distribution centers nationwide over the next few months, a representative for the drugstore chain confirmed with SFGATE. The company has approximately 1,240 stores spanning 15 states, and of them 347 California locations.”
What the Rite Aid closure meant for its pharmacy
“I never thought about it going away,” Kohan admits. “I almost viewed it as my retirement location. It was a truly sweet experience, and I don’t believe that’s common in the world of pharmacy nowadays. It’s very fast-paced. You hardly know your customers.”
Kohan learned in May about the forthcoming closure, and the doors officially shut at the end of July. “It kind of came from left field,” he said. “In retrospect, things were pointing in that direction. But the information that we got from our leadership was that we were trying to get back on our feet. They were negotiating with vendors and so on. I was very optimistic that we would recover. I was looking at the glass as half full at the time. When we finally realized that was not the case, and nobody was coming in to take over the store, that’s when my business partner, Elsie Molenaar, decided to brainstorm if there was a way that we could do this.”
For Kohan, the dream seemed almost unfathomable. “I didn’t necessarily have ambitions of operating a pharmacy. I view myself as a capable pharmacy manager; I know how to run the pharmacy and lead a good team, but jumping in and opening a store was not in my plans. But since that was going to be taken away from me… that’s when we seriously sat down and I decided that I’m going to try to do this and take care of my patients.”
Throughout the interview, Kohan continuously circles back to the support of the community and how that has been the wind beneath his wings. “Our relationship with our community was very, very tight for every single one of my staff, techs, and patients. It was very hard to give that up. Seeing the team that we built get scattered throughout San Diego… I was proud of them. Every single one of my team members, with the exception of Elsie, I brought in as an introductory cashier. I trained them to become technicians. I felt like those are my children, to a degree. So, it was nice to see them go out in the real world, but it was hard at the same time. I never wanted that group to disappear.”
The experience you can expect at Crown Coast Pharmacy
Kohan takes pride in his team-building efforts at Rite Aid and will continue to employ his same leadership strategies at Crown Coast Pharmacy. “One of the things that helped us along the way and made our job sweeter was that we checked off efficiencies right off the bat. In order for us to have the time to engage our patients and get to know them, we really had to make sure that our work was smooth.”
He elaborates, “The island is small, and most of the patients go to local doctors and are prescribed quickly, so we had to make sure that we were on top of that. Continuing the efficiency in this new pharmacy is very important to me.” Bringing some of the old team members that know the clientele and the workflow, will help continue that.
As for the differences, Kohan aims to expand care for the community to meet more of their needs in one location. “I’m hoping to continue with the same type of services that they already did with immunizations, medication, therapy management, but I also want to add compounding, because there’s not a compound pharmacy on the island. If you have pet meds or products that need to be catered to an individual, we’ll have those.”
Crown Coast Pharmacy to launch in old Wine a Bit location
Kohan chose a local real estate agent to assist him in finding the best location. “We were initially looking at some properties that Carrie Duda had in her portfolio, and she said she could look around in town for other options. When we realized that this [the former Wine a Bit space] was open, it was ideal. First of all, it’s right on the strip, very visible, and close to where we were before. It was our number one choice. She really went to bat for us and negotiated with the landlord. The landlord has been so kind. From what I understand, he and his family grew up in Coronado, so they have an attachment to the community as well.”
Everything has fallen into place accordingly, and everybody’s been very supportive.
Timeline for Crown Coast Pharmacy
Time is of the essence. “First of all, the closure of the pharmacy is hard, but having this happen right around the cold season is a very bad storm,” Kohan explains. “Essentially, people have to relocate to another pharmacy. Our neighbors, Sharp and Walgreens, have their own volume increase. It’s a very hard few months to come. I really need to try to open this pharmacy as soon as possible so I can jump in and help out, and because of that, we created a GoFundMe to help secure some funds for build out and such. It’s allowing me to get my start quickly. It’s been the grassroots of the community jumping in and helping out financially, and encouraging me. That’s just been such a hard feeling to describe. I want to be there for them when the time comes.”
As of press time, $10,900 has been raised out of the $40,000 goal. If you would like to donate, please visit: Fundraiser: Help Bring an Independent Pharmacy Back to Coronado.
Kohan is sharing updates through the Crown Coast Pharmacy RX newsletter, which you can sign up for by visiting the website.
Current Status
There is some red tape to navigate, but Kohan has been impressed with the process so far. “I’ve submitted my application to the board of pharmacy. That portion is crucial. In order for the Board of Pharmacy to issue the license, they need to do a site visit. The next crucial point is making sure that I’m able to finish building out the pharmacy in accordance with the city permitting, building codes, and everything else. It’s important to make sure that I don’t fall behind in the schedule. Ideally, I am hoping that we would be able to open up somewhere in mid-November or December.”
Kohan speaks highly of working with the City of Coronado. “Whenever you have to deal with the city, you feel that there’s this big, menacing character, but it’s really not. One gentleman, Damion Nowak [city building official], has been very kind in walking through the process and explaining what I need to do to make sure that things fall into place. That’s just been a very amazing experience.”
“Everybody has rallied around me,” Kohan concludes with gratitude. “The whole community has. It’s just very humbling and inspiring. I get messages to this day from my customers encouraging me to keep on going and saying I’m doing great. I’ll give updates through the mailing list, but… I thought work was sweet before, but this has strengthened my bond with the community.”
Crown Coast Pharmacy
928 Orange Avenue
