Family owned pharmacies thriving after Walgreens’ closing announcement
Murphy Walgreens recently announced that they would be closing around 1,200 “underperforming” stores across the United States, including the store on Main Street in Andrews.
The closure is attributed to financial pressures such as declining profits, low drug reimbursement rates and minimal retail sales. However, local, family owned pharmacies continue to thrive against large corporations and online options.
The original King’s Pharmacy was established more than 50 years ago in 1974. The current owner, John Hyer, acquired the pharmacy in 2013.
After investing more than $1 million in renovations and improvements, King’s has added new locations in Hayesville, which was opened in 2014, and King’s Hometown Pharmacy in Blairsville, Ga., which was previously known as Our Hometown Pharmacy. After the tragic death of owner Robert Mills, Hyer opened the store and kept “Hometown” in the name to honor him.
Hyer has worked with other pharmacies in his career. When he purchased King’s, his goal was to create a better work environment with more focus on the patients – and not on corporate quotas.
“I wanted to be able to practice pharmacy the way it should be; putting our team and patients first,” he said.
Since 2013, King’s has grown from having just three employees to more than 20.
“Nothing would be possible without the team we have,” Hyer said.
The pharmacy manager, Dr. Whitney Marcus Eller, added, “I want to give an extra special thanks to the entire group at King’s. Our pharmacists and team work extremely hard in a fast-paced, difficult environment and still manage to take care of everyone with a great attitude … with smiles.”
Hyer acknowledges that most pharmacies offer the same medications, accept the same insurance and have the ability to fill prescriptions accurately. The experience with King’s is what’s different.
“What sets us apart is not just doing the pharmacy ‘things,’ but doing those things with customer service forefront, quickly and efficiently,” he said.
King’s core values and mission is to solve health-care-related issues quickly with care, thoughtfulness and understanding. Their patients are at the heart of everything they do to serve the community.
King’s Pharmacy also offers compound medications (men, women, veterans and children formulations), fair pricing for those without insurance, hormone and weight-loss consultations, and Medicare plan comparisons. In addition, the drugstore provides all of the typical pharmacy products, such as supplements and a medication sync program to ensure patients receive prescriptions on time each month and have the option to pick them up in-store or via the drive-through service.
While King’s has no control over insurance co-pay prices, they strive to have affordable cash pricing for those who don’t have insurance and, for some medications, offer extended days supply, which can help keep costs lower for patients.
With all the success that comes with keeping a locally owned pharmacy open for a half-century, some challenges come with this as well.
“The playing field is not equal between independent pharmacies and chains,” Hyer said.
One major challenge is pharmacy benefit managers, who own both insurance companies and pharmacies. This often leads to increased prices and decreased options for where they can receive care.
This can also lead to patient steering, where PBMs will push insurance holders to be patients at their pharmacies. Another common challenge independent pharmacies face is reimbursement prices.
“Many of the drugs we dispense are paid below the actual cost of the medication. This is the reality of pharmacy, and one of the reasons over 4,000 pharmacies closed their doors in 2024 alone,” Hyer said.
Hyer is a big advocate for shopping locally because it benefits the local economy. When you spend money locally, the majority of that money stays here, rather than going to large corporations. Shopping local means you’re supporting other members of the community.
“Choose a pharmacy that values you as a patient. A pharmacy that supports the local community. A pharmacy that smiles and is doing everything possible to help you as a patient and improve pharmacy as a profession,” Hyer said.
King’s Pharmacy is thankful to serve the communities they are in.
“Without your support, we wouldn’t be here. It is truly an honor to serve you, and never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be able to serve this many people,” Hyer said.
Details: Visit kingsrxandwellness.com.