Why am I here?

Someone asked me the other day, “Why do you buy from Smith Drug Company?” I looked him right in the eye and replied, “Is there another wholesaler?” You see, for me, there is only one. Smith Drug Company. This friend of mine argued that he bet I could get a better price from the new deal he had just signed up for. “Great low prices” he claimed. I asked him about his low prices; we compared. I admit, he had a few things that he bought that were a little lower, and he admitted that I had some. Then we got into things like DME, home health items, generics, and other categories. The next thing I knew, he was back-tracking, telling me that net items weren’t in the deal, the wholesaler he uses really doesn’t do much medical equipment, and generics really don’t count that much. Not sure if I changed his mind, but he sure made me feel good about my choice of a partner to provide my business’s needs.

Over the almost thirty years I have been in business I admit to trying most all the wholesalers out there. Seemed I always had a supplier, but never a partner. That changed the day I teamed up with Smith Drug. My wholesaler had been bought out, I didn’t like the new owners, and things weren’t going well. Smith Drug came through my door, and since then, I haven’t had to worry about this aspect of my business. It brings great peace of mind knowing I trust and respect the single largest vendor I deal with.

Within the past six months, my partners and I have purchased a pharmacy in another town, and moved our existing pharmacy, almost doubling the size and greatly increasing our O-T-C offerings. Smith Drug has walked with us every step of the way, from helping us design and lay out the front-end of our store, to opening day, and every day since. We got to know a lot of their merchandisers on a first-name basis. Everyone from the finance department to the driver who brings the order, pitched in and helped us get it done. We have a beautiful new store of which we are very proud. It is fully decked out in Healthwise Blue and Green, and our customers love it! Under Ken Couch and Rick Simerly’s direction, and the efforts of folks like Johnny Greer, Jim Stevens, Christa Hampton, and the people who work with them, Medical Park Pharmacy has become a showplace. We couldn’t have done it without them! When I talk about this kind of support, folks that use other wholesalers just shake their heads in disbelief.

To the folks that ask me why I have the wholesaler that I have, I can tell a story. A story of years of friendship, of faith in our dream, of trust, and confidence that by tying our futures together, SMITH and Medical Park will both prosper, and the person who someday takes over my business will be fortunate enough to enjoy the same kind of partnership I have enjoyed for years. To the people who ask me why I partner with Smith Drug, I tell them the story I have told you here, and express the hope that some day they too, will be able to wear the contented smile that creeps across my face whenever someone asks me, “Why do you buy from Smith Drug Company?”. Want to see what a wholesaler and it’s PARTNER stores can do? You can stop by one of hundreds of examples all over the South, but why don’t you start with mine!

Sincerely,

Laird Miller, R.Ph.

Medical Park Pharmacy
Gainesville, Ga.

"We've been with Smith Drug Company since our beginning in 1981... they continue to serve us well. They've grown as we have grown. They've grown into areas where we wanted to go, in particular, in the way of durable medical equipment..."

Bruce Cash, R.Ph.
Ford Drug & Gift
Spartanburg, SC