Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Celebrating a century of service
In its fourth generation of family ownership, Collier Drug is ready for the next 100 years
Carl Collier has seen a lot of changes in the pharmacy business in his decades standing behind the counters of Collier Drug Stores. At 76, the third generation pharmacist is still going strong, and as devoted to his loyal customers as the day he started washing dishes in the family drug store’s soda fountain at just 10-years old. “It was good,” Carl said. “I officially went to work in 1951 and it really set a good tone and helped me with talking to people and building relationships. Our stores are built on building a relationship.” Carl’s grandfather, M.M. Collier, opened the family’s first pharmacy in 1917. Soon Carl’s father, Morris, joined the business. Carl and his brother, another Morris, followed years later. Today Carl’s son, Mel, operates the business. This year, Collier Drug Stores celebrate a century of service to the residents of Northwest Arkansas. Carl, needless to say, is proud of that milestone. “My grandfather bought the Red Cross Drug store on the square in Fayetteville in 1917,” Carl said. “Prior to that he had been with Southern Mercantile, which was the big box store of the day in Prairie Grove. In 1915 he went to the legislature for a couple of years and when he came back he had an opportunity to buy the Red Cross Drug on the square. Thus we began.”
A different time
Fayetteville’s square was a much different place 100 years ago, Carl explained. “The square was not paved,” he said. “It was muddy. My Dad was 9-years old at the time and he delivered soda fountain sandwiches and milkshakes on a bicycle.” In that era, Carl said, every drug store had a soda fountain. The fountain was essential in getting a hand up on competition. “You had to have a soda fountain,” Carl recounted. “It was a competitive thing among drug stores. Everybody was within walking distance and they came in for coffee in the morning and at lunch and in the afternoon. After the movie theatre closed at night people would come in and buy other things in the store. It’s much like soda fountains have been a loss-leader.” A soda fountain, he said, didn’t really make much money. But it drew people into the store. “It’s kind of like the $4 prescription plans today,” he said. “Every prescription costs $12.65 to fill, but you sell it for $4 and you’ve invested the rest in people buying other items while they are in the store.” Carl’s grandfather was an apprentice trained pharmacist; long before regulations mandated you attend pharmacy school and be degreed and licensed. That changed in the next generations of Colliers. “Dad went to St Louis College of Pharmacy,” Carl said. “He came back around 1930 and joined granddad in the business. Dad had official pharmacy school training with a degree. He wasn’t from the apprentice school of thought. “
Embracing change
Carl’s dad worked on the Fayetteville Square with his father for almost two decades. Soon, World War II had come to a close and times were changing. The Colliers never were scared of embracing change. “In the late 40s Mom and Dad were looking at opportunities,” Carl remembered. “There was no parking on the square. Society had become more mobile with more cars. My Mom was really good at business. She had grown up working in department stores. She urged Dad to build a store on Dickson Street.” The couple scouted around and found a possible spot for a new location. “There had been an old laundry and a lumber company and there was a great big lot,” he said. “They began construction in ‘48. My granddad was alive to see the beginning of the construction. He died in 1949. Mom and Dad opened the Dickson Street store and it was an instant success. It was modern. There were electric eye doors, which were the first in Arkansas” “Mom and Dad virtually lived in the store,” Carl said. “We were open until 10 o’clock seven days a week. As we got out of school us kids would go to the store and sweep up.” Once Carl was ready to head off to college, Carl knew where his destiny would lead. “I went to pharmacy school in Little Rock in ‘61, ‘62 ,‘63 and got out in ‘64,” he said. “I came back up and joined with my brother, who had gotten out of school in ‘63. We wanted to help Dad. He was practically living in the store. We were open until 10 o’clock seven days a week. His knees had gone bad, but he had a smile on his face. That’s what you did. You just worked through it.” With two sons now in the drug store game, it wasn’t long until the business started expanding and the brothers started thinking about their futures. “I joined Dad in ‘64 and we bought another drug store on the east side of Fayetteville. My brother went to that store and I stayed on Dickson Street. Then, we bought Dad and Mom out in 1970. My brother and I were equal partners in the business and we built some branches.”
Looking ahead
By the mid-1970s, modernization was sweeping the pharmacy industry and the Colliers knew it was time to do the same. “In 1974, we explored computerization of all of our RX functions,” he said. “IBM had a customer in Lenexa, Kansas who had a computer program designed for pharmacy. We bought that system and were the fourth computerized retail pharmacy in the country. We really expanded computerization as we built branches in the late 1970s and ’80s. We had all the branches connected so customers could go from one store to another and fill their prescriptions and maintain the same records. We are always trying to look ahead and be prepared for it and invest in it.” Carl’s brother passed away in 1989 and Carl split the company’s ownership between his two children and his wife. Mel Collier, the fourth generation in the family business, joined the company in 1995 after graduating from University. “He is not a pharmacist,” Carl said. “But he was always a very good businessman. In 2007 Mel bought the rest of our shares and I went to work for Mel. It’s been a really good relationship. He’s a finance and business guy and that lets me be the customer man. I like the interaction and relationship with patients and customers.”
Delivering care
One of the mainstays of the Collier’s business is their free delivery service. Averaging 133 free deliveries around Northwest Arkansas every day, Carl believes it’s important to continue the tradition of taking prescriptions to his customers when they need them. “We feel like these (older) customers have come to us when they could for 40 or 50 years,” he said. “Now that many of them can’t, we feel like we owe it to them to take the medicine to them. It has worked for us and we do it efficiently. Our (delivery) guys are sometimes the only people our homebound customers might see all week. They change light bulbs or bring in the newspapers. They continue to build that relationship with customers.” Carl’s business philosophy and path to success isn’t a secret. For the Colliers, it’s a way of life. “We look out for our customers,” he said with a serious tone. “You have to get to know your patient. You can’t hide in the back like a vending machine. You have to put yourself out there. We feel like we can’t look after the customer enough and the people of Northwest Arkansas have rewarded us with their loyalty.