Since 1959, Hunt’s Silver Lake Drug Store has served the people of northeast Rochester, providing pharmacy services, cosmetics, sundries, and a neighborhood post office. But on June 25, that local postal service will be gone.
The US Postal Service (USPS) cancelled its contract with the store’s contract postal unit — a mini post office operated by Hunt’s employees. USPS would not give Hunt’s a reason for the termination, but later told ABC News it was “determined that nearby Post Offices are available to serve the community.”
Hunt’s is rallying support from customers, the city officials, and even Minnesota’s US Senators to reverse the decision before the June 25 deadline. Tom Otten, Hunt’s manager, says the store originally ignored the notice. “Then at one point,” he says, “they sent a notary representative in with the exact notification of a termination. I refused to sign that at that time, but they said it was inevitable and our postal station would be closed.”
Eliminating accessible postal service
The situation is dire, given the customer base Hunt’s serves and its location in northeast Rochester. Otten explains, “We serve a lot of elderly people in this region who don’t have the ability to get transport or drive themselves to the main post office.”
Rochester’s main USPS post office is located in the northwest part of the city, about three miles, or 10 minutes, away. The office has limited accessibility with little parking, minimal staff, and bad service reviews. Hunt’s is open until 8 p.m. on weekdays, two hours later than the main branch.
Many customers — including elderly residents who don’t drive — walk to Hunt’s to mail letters and packages. About 5,000 customers use the postal station each month. Otten says it’s one of the main drivers of foot traffic in the store. “You come in to mail a package, you pick up a card. You come in to mail a package, and you pick up a prescription. So when you have several contingent sales with every mailing of a package or they buy the envelopes, I would think there would be a definite financial impact,” Otten says.
Losing the station also threatens a core service: mailing prescriptions directly to patients in and around Rochester. Otten says, “The ability for us to prepare a person’s medication, package it, and mail it, and have it securely delivered from this location is almost priceless. I think the loss has been expressed by hundreds of customers.”
The real reason behind the termination?
Otten says USPS gave Hunt no reason as to why they are canceling the contract. He says there “were no errors on our part,” and if there were reasons stated, the store would have complied to make changes. The original contract allows either party to terminate that contract at any time with the 120-day notice, but the timing has raised questions.
This isn’t the first USPS substation that has been closed without a reason. In 2025, the same happened to Rankos Pharmacy in Tacoma, Wash., and to an Ace Hardware Store in Mariemont, Ohio. USPS is also closing locations in multiple states, making mailing access even more difficult to find.
When asking why, Otten says, he thinks it’s a national issue coming to head. “It almost seems like it started a year ago systematically throughout the country.” Otten talked to the Ohio store’s owner, who confirmed it isn’t because of performance or violations. “It seems as if they have an agenda to make it so that there will only be government postal stations,” he plainly states.
While the Postmaster General David Steiner says he doesn’t believe the postal service should be privatized, President Donald Trump has considered it dating all the way back to his first term. This is despite the fact that the public postal system is protected in the US Constitution.
The closure comes roughly five months before the Nov. 3 midterm election, when many elderly people and disabled residents rely on mail-in ballots.
Saving Hunt’s post office
So far, customers and locals have done their best to get the word out. Otten reports customers telling him they contacted US Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, both of whom are Democrats, as well as US Rep. Brad Finstad (R-New Ulm)-. The senators have sent Steiner a letter expressing full support for Hunt’s, noting how the closure “removes a convenient and accessible postal option that has served the Rochester area for more than 65 years.”
Otten is urging others to contact their representatives. “We’re a community-based, privately owned business, and those are rare now,” Otten says, “We’re hopeful that somehow they could intervene and perhaps stop what seems to be inevitable.”
