Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991                   TAG: 9104120880
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: N-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRIS CRISCIONE/ SPECIAL TO ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PERSONAL TOUCH PREVAILS AT FAMILY-RUN DRUG STORE

Hill stayed with that store until 1981, earning his pharmacist's degree along the way. When he did finally leave, it was to purchase another family drug store and go into business for himself. For 35 years, the owner of Crouch's Pharmacy has never worked in any other business.

Although much has changed for drug stores since he's been in the business, Hill still has the same view of what a family drug store should be.

"The difference between me and the chain store is that I bend over backwards to talk with people," Hill says. "That's a real important part of pharmacy work: patient counseling. There's so many new drugs on the market these days, people need to know what to take, when to take it and what they can take it with."

"One of the reasons we do so much business is people know they can call here any day and speak to me and ask questions. I have people call me who have changed to one of the chain drug stores. They still call me, though, because they can't get anyone at the other stores to answer their questions."

Hill emphasizes service as the main distinction between himself and the chain stores. He knows many of his customers by name and knows what their medication needs are. Despite the fact that chain stores have more money to spend, Hill insists that he can stock as many or more pharmaceuticals as his competitors.

"Your large, independent pharmacy has a better stock than anybody," Hill says. "The big boys are going to stock primarily the hot-selling items. I'll stock things that maybe only one or two of my customers use."

The difference, he says, is in the philosophy. "The chains are a business, they're run to make money. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't want to make money, but I'm here basically to serve people. This is a people's business."

That philosophy is evident in Crouch's slogan: "Big enough to serve you, small enough to know you."

It's a philosophy that works, Hill says. Despite the increasing competition from chain pharmacies, Crouch's business has grown during the last four years. As a matter of fact, Hill just recently finished remodeling the store.

One recent trend that has cut into Hill's business, though is the growth of mail-order pharmaceutical companies. Hill says that many employers, including the Commonwealth of Virginia, have signed up with these companies because the mail-order operations can offer better rates on many medications.

The problem, says Hill, is that many of these operations take as long as two or three weeks to deliver medications. In addition, the patient has virtually no contact with the person dispensing the medicine.

"If a person comes in here with a cold, and he's receiving medication from one of those mail-order companies, I have no way of knowing what other medications he's taking," Hill says. "I need to know that to make sure I don't give him the wrong medicine."

In spite of that frustration, Hill sees the role of independent pharmacists growing in the near future, specifically because of the personal service they can offer.