It's back. Well, maybe not in the old location or under the former proprietorship, but after more than three pharmacy-less years downtown Saratoga once again has a drugstore.

It's the HomeChoice Pharmacy, which opened this month in the Village Center through an interesting concurrence of talent and circumstances, and I think Saratoga really is going to appreciate the results.

For one thing, it's high tech, with overtones of dot-com, and around here that's pretty much the name of the game these days. Take the proprietor, for instance, or, as his name appears on the business card, CEO of HomeChoice Pharmacy Inc. He's Arthur Gardiner, a native of New York state who came to California as a single dad with his 11-year-old son, Jason, in 1987 and settled in Los Gatos, where he still lives.

He came here as a program manager for General Electric's Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program, or NAS, which functioned as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's high-end computer research and development operation. He also handled other major GE programs for the government. To use a significant term, this all took a nosedive in 1992 when the aerospace industry began serious downsizing, resulting in the elimination of many programs.

That's when Gardiner went into consulting, which was adequate for a time. Then came the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and even this opportunity dwindled drastically. At this point, Gardiner looked to the pharmaceutical field as something that would always be with us and not subject to downsizing. But he was not a pharmacist. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science and a master's degree in mathematics. He also had contacts, who had contacts with people who where pharmacists—and according to Gardiner, this seems to be a singularly uncrowded field. Still, he was able to round up three in the Los Gatos­Saratoga area who could put in part-time shifts at his store. Gardiner's son, Jason, had been working in construction but had suffered a back injury. However, he was able and eager to join his dad in the pharmacy business.

Even if you're hale and hearty, HomeChoice Pharmacy is worth a look, just to see the other end of the drugstore spectrum. This is not the kind of mega-drugstore where you can get anything from motor oil to vodka to office supplies, with a prescription counter thrown in. On the other hand, if you need a wheelchair or a walker or a therapeutic chair—or practically anything pertaining to medicine and health care—this is the place.

I like to think that the appearance of a pharmacy may signal the start of some kind of renaissance of the old Saratoga business district. There are too many vacant stores downtown these days. Anybody for hardware? We once had a very good store here. How about a service station with a grease rack and a mechanic on duty? Once there were three auto repair shops, one with a new-car agency, and four service stations in the Village. Now you have to drive a mile or so out of town for a lube job.

I won't push too hard for a blacksmith shop, one of which we had until World War II. However, I happen to have an anvil and a forge that I could be persuaded to part with for the right purpose. Then there was the Clef House, a music store where the proprietor could be heard from the street as he played classical selections on one of the grand pianos for sale there.

There was also a variety store and a department store that carried ready-to-wear clothing. And I can't overlook the four grocery stores, all of which offered free delivery. I got in on that act while in high school and just after, when I drove one of those trucks.

There were valid reasons at the time, such as increased rent, for the disappearance of these various establishments, but I can't help thinking that if one such can make it back, couldn't some others?