Phil Parkhurst, R.Ph., owns Parkhurst Pharmacy, an independent community pharmacy located in the small mining town of Grants, New Mexico. We talked with Parkhurst about the “simple philosophies” that keep his pharmacy going and what he sees in store for the future.
Tell us about Parkhurst Pharmacy. How did the business get started?
I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and went to school at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy. With some help, I purchased an existing pharmacy in 1968 and moved here with my young family when I was 27 years old. I didn’t know a thing about this community other than that I had driven through it a few times and bought gas, then went on down the road to the fishing hole. But we started the business and worked hard. We were open seven days a week for a number of years. When you’re starting from zero, that’s what you have to do. It’s up to you to do the work. We worked hard and here we are 46 years later.
What has made your pharmacy successful?
I have a lot of simple philosophies in my business. I started working in a pharmacy when I was in high school. I worked with some old timers who worked part-time. They gave me a lot of information and guidance on what to do and what not to do when working with people and how to treat customers and take care of them. And they gave me a lot of one-liners like, ‘You take care of the customers and they’ll take care of you.’ I really took that to heart, embraced it and that’s been my business philosophy. It has worked out well for me.
Do you have any other philosophies that have worked for you?
Another thing those old-timers taught me was to treat your customers fair and to always give them a fair and equitable price. You take care of the customers and the money takes care of itself, and that’s really very true. I never embraced the $4 prescription business, and I don’t see a necessity for doing that. When Walmart started doing that a few years ago, there was some pressure to do it, but I decided to just continue to do what I’ve always done and make a fair price on everything I do.
In a small town, you always hear in advance when somebody new is coming to town. Before Walmart opened up, all of the customers would come in asking about it, and they’re personal friends so they were worried about us. They’d ask, ‘What are you going to do?’ and ‘What’s going to happen to you?’ And I worried about it and worried about it for a few months. Finally, I decided, well, I’ve done as well as I could for all these years. If it doesn’t work out, I guess I’ll just close up and go work at Walmart. So I quit worrying about it.
What happened?
Well, that was 14 years ago. For the first couple of years, they took my growth away. I didn’t go backwards, but they took away my growth. But now we’ve managed to take away a lot of business from Walmart. People come in here all the time with their little Ziploc® baggie with a bunch of bottles in there from Walmart, and they say, ‘What do I have to do to transfer my prescriptions over here?’ And I say, ‘Just set that bag on the counter and I’ll take care of you.’
And it’s amazing how many people come in here and drop off their bottles and say, ‘I’m going over to Walmart to do some shopping. I’ll be back to pick these up after a bit.’ They get their scripts here, and they go out and buy their rubber ducks and magazines and TVs at Walmart. We have that happen every day. And we try to give them a reason to do that.
Why do you think people are switching back to you?
Well, it’s very simple. The service. A lot of the people who come in here are sick; they don’t feel good; they’re cranky; and they want to hurry up and get home. And anything we can do to make that more pleasant and an easier experience, then that’s what we’re going to try to do. We offer them a cold bottle of water while they sit down and wait. If they need us to call a ride for them, we’ll do that. If we need to help them loosen up their shoelaces, we’ll do that for them. Whatever they need to make them feel good. That’s what we do.
Do you have any advice to share with other independent pharmacy owners?
The best advice I can give you is to pay attention to your customers and to do everything you can for them. Most people are good people at heart, and they’ll recognize when you genuinely and truly care about them. Sincere caring, not just superficial. And they’re going to come back.
It makes you feel good to go someplace where somebody knows you, right? You walk in someplace and they say, ‘Hey Sue, how ya doing?’ That makes you feel good. Well next time you need something, you’ll go back there. So, get to know your customers and treat them right and they’re going to look forward to coming to you. That’s my belief.
Any business-specific advice?
One of the things people always used to say was that you have to price your products right and you have to sell them right, but anymore that’s only half the equation. Now, you really truly have to buy right. And you have to have partners, like PBA Health, to help put you in a position where you can buy better and remain competitive with the chains. And then it’s up to you to figure out a way to make it all work. But you need to have people who are willing to help you get there. And be loyal to them and they’ll be loyal to you. That’s what it’s all about for me is loyalty.
If independents are going to survive, we have to pay attention to all facets of our businesses. You have to buy right; you have to sell right. You have to be careful of the contracts you sign and agree to. But you also have to work hard with your vendors, your suppliers, your wholesalers, your PSAOs. You have to have somebody who gives you good representation and contractual negotiation with the PBMs. And lastly, you really have to take good care of your customers; otherwise they’re not going to be there in the first place. Because after all, if they have an insurance card and they pay 10 bucks wherever they go, it doesn’t matter where they go— Walmart, CVS, Joe’s Pharmacy. They pay the same 10 bucks, so you have to give them a reason to come see you instead of somebody else.
What’s your vision for your pharmacy over the next few years?
Even though we’re here in a little podunk city in a small community, my little pharmacy has 11 computers, a robot and a pill counter. We try to stay on top of what’s going on and take advantage of things that are helpful to us in our business and our profession. I look for things that enable us to free up our time, so we can spend just a teeny bit more time with our customers. That way they’re back to see us when they need something else.
Just because something is new and shiny, that doesn’t mean I jump right on it. I’m not the first kid on the block who runs out and buys it. I let it sit for a bit and I say, ‘Well this is a good thing, but…’ And I try and figure out what I can do with the “buts” to make it really work better for me. I’ve been in business long enough that I’m taking care of fourth generation families. To me, when I see that, it tells me that we must be doing things right. I’m happy to have had the opportunity to help patients all these years; it has been satisfying and rewarding in many ways.
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