In some ways, entering the new Apothecary by Design and attached PeRx-U-Up Specialty Coffee & Cafe shop on Marginal Way is like stepping back in time to an old-fashioned pharmacy. The locally-owned business is brimming with helpful staff members and the coffee bar is similar to an old-timey soda fountain. But in other ways this place is as modern as can be.

The shop does carry the mass market brands and items you usually see in a national pharmacy chain. But it also offers an extensive selection of natural remedies and personal care products. You can find everything from herbal tinctures to Traditional Medicinals teas and cruelty-free soaps to natural hair dyes.

Not only does it have a regular pharmacy, but the shop also has a specialized compounding pharmacy, which you can see here through the glass. Inside this sterilized zone, pharmacist Joe Lorello mixes up custom medicines. For patients and doctors who need prescriptions made in higher or lower dosages, prepared as a cream rather than a pill or formulated without an ingredient to which the patient is allergic, a compounding pharmacy is the solution.

Here are just some of the pharmacists and specialists available to help customers. Mark McAuliffe, far right in the photo, tells me that the shop has particular expertise in working with insurance companies to obtain coverage for medications and that the team has extensive experience formulating prescriptions for transplant patients and women undergoing fertility treatments.

And whether or not you have a prescription to fill, it's worth popping inside to pick up a Coffee By Design coffee, a soup or a sandwich.

The sandwiches are made fresh each day by City Deli and the soups and pastries come from Stones Cafe and Bakery in North Yarmouth. Regular offerings include chicken caesar wraps ($6.50), veggie wraps ($5.95), ham and cheese paninis ($6.95) and roast beef and cheese sandwiches ($6.25). There's a special wrap and panini each day, and today's are a honey curry chicken wrap and a steak bacon cheddar with horseradish panini. Today's soups ($3.25-$6.45) are carrot ginger, portabello primavera and beef sausage chili.

The pharmacy and coffee shop are located at 84 Marginal Way, in the new InterMed building. It is open Mon.-Fri. 7 am-6 pm and Sat. 8 am-1 pm. During the week, the pharmacy opens at 7:30 am. You can reach them by phone at 774-5220.