One of the most important things my dad taught me about running the family business was to connect with peers in the independent pharmacy industry. That way you can learn and grow with each other. As fewer and fewer independent pharmacies exist, especially in large cities like Naperville, there’s always something new we can learn to continue serving our patients with a level of care that chain or mail-order pharmacies are incapable of.

My friend Kyle runs two pharmacies outside of Milwaukee in Cedarburg and Shorewood. Our Pharmacy Manager Melissa and I drove to his stores in January to see how another successful independent operates. Kyle’s pharmacies offer some terrific in-home prescription delivery options, compounding, pill packaging, and even a beer and wine section at his Shorewood store—should we bring any of those ideas to our store? Let us know!

Coming from a chain pharmacy, Melissa was able to learn some new skills unique to the independent pharmacy world. As Kyle worked in chain pharmacies before purchasing his first pharmacy (in March of 2020 nonetheless) he knew exactly where Melissa’s prior experience would suit Oswald’s well, while also sharing some new ideas that wouldn’t be possible in a chain-store setting.

Expanding Medical Equipment Selection

As we’ve dramatically expanded our medical equipment offerings over the past decade, I was able to share my knowledge in that realm with Kyle so he can increase his medical equipment department in the years to come. He’ll be one of the few pharmacies offering retail medical equipment in the Milwaukee area!

While our drive to Wisconsin was extremely snowy, the weather in February looks like it’s finally starting to warm up. Hopefully no more below zero days! With Valentine’s Day coming up in just a couple of weeks, shop our great selection of gifts, toys, and treats! And if you can believe it, our retail management team, Jeremy and Laura, are also busy buying for Christmas in February!   ꝶ