Drugstore of yore
Pulse editor
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Walking into Duluth Rexall is like taking a step back in time. You won’t find cosmetics or groceries like at a CVS or a Walgreens store. What you will find in the adjacent Rexall Grill is an old-fashioned breakfast and lunch counter that has been serving up Southern home cooking — biscuits and gravy, macaroni and cheese, and fried chicken — with a heaping helping of hospitality that goes back 40 years.
Don’t let the looks or the mouth-
Photos by BARRY WILLIAMS / AJC Special
Duluth Rexall Drug Store is blast from the past with a grill and a pharmacy.
Duluth Rexall owner Lynda Alley listens to her customers. ‘We spend a lot of time trying to solve problems,’ she said.
Nace Simpson enjoys a cup of coffee as he reads the morning newspaper at the Rexall Grill.
watering aroma deceive you. Duluth Rexall is one progressive drugstore. It has to be in order to compete in today’s chain and grocery drugstore, Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement environment.
When Lynda Alley, R.Ph., bought the business in 1998, it was still an old-time pharmacy. There were regulars who had been coming to the store since high school or before.
“Neighbors and farmers would come in for prescriptions and sit around and visit for a while. We don’t get as much of that anymore,” Alley said. “A lot of the old customers have died or sold their land and moved away.”
Alley still fills prescriptions, but she realized that she couldn’t compete with the volume buying of chain stores, and she would have to do things differently.
“I knew I couldn’t have all my eggs in one basket,” Alley said. “We became a specialty pharmacy and take pride in doing things that no one else is doing.”
One of those things is compounding. As a member of Professional Compounding Centers of America, Alley fills prescriptions that aren’t ready-made.
“We buy the chemicals and other ingredients and provide sterile, clean-room compounding that includes veterinary medications, dermatology creams and lotions, pediatric prescriptions and natural hormone replacement products,” she said.
The clean room is equipped with an autoclave, dry sterile ovens and a sterile filtration hood.
“Just today, we made up 400 natural hormone compounds for women, some capsules to treat animal gall-bladder problems for a veterinarian, dosages of 5-FU [for chemotherapy] and mixed a thyroid medication into a liquid so a child could take it,” Alley said.
Pharmacies that compound are hard to find, Alley said. “It takes a lot of research on the computer to compound medications. You have to think about how to keep it stable if it is light-sensitive. Does it need to be refrigerated? How long will it last? You can’t just take a shot in the dark when it comes to someone’s prescription.”
Because so few pharmacies compound, Alley draws customers from all over metro Atlanta. She only took three vacation days last year.
“We’re the go-to place when someone has something that other pharmacies can’t fill,” she said.
That includes hard-to-find medical equipment, supplies and services. Duluth Rexall is a retail center for many manufacturers such as National Allergy, Florida Orthopedics and Jobst (compression hosiery). The pharmacy also gives immunizations.
“We have a wall full of orthopedic braces, splints, wheelchairs, walkers, hip-fracture kits, bath benches and adaptive forks and spoons for people who have motor-skill problems,” Alley said. “We even carry anti-ulcer boots/shoes for diabetic patients.
“Anything that is unusual or that someone would have to order, we carry in stock. We spend a lot of time trying to solve problems.”
Alley is a diabetes educator and a certified consultant for allergy/asthma conditions. She takes the time to help customers find the right supplies or to manage their illnesses and medications. She’ll also likely to listen to customers talk about their ailments or share the latest research when she eats breakfast and lunch at the Rexall Grill every day.
Alley knows that tradition — Gail Herrin has been running the Rexall Grill for 26 years — and a reputation as Duluth’s unofficial community center are part of the drugstore’s unique charm.
“Our building burned down in 1993, but we built it back, restaurant and all,” Alley said.
A 1977 graduate of Mercer Southern School of Pharmacy, now Alley helps train Mercer pharmacy students in compounding and how to operate an independent pharmacy.
“We’re a small-town store, but we operate with very modern techniques,” she said. “I don’t believe there is any store out there doing all that we do.”