News - Press Releases
Customer Service Drives Reeves-Sain
Apr. 25, 2010
from the Daily News Journal
What began as a small business operated out of a trailer 30 years ago has grown into a hometown pharmacy.
Reeves-Sain is celebrating its service to the community with week-long events focused on an anniversary theme of "Live Well, Be Well."
The celebration is an opportunity to thank Reeves-Sain's customers and to showcase the elements that make the company successful, according to spokeswoman Lori Sain Smith.
"We have always focused on combining distinctive products and services with a high level of customer service because everything we do is focused on improving our customers' health and their lives," she said. "We are so grateful to all of our customers for their endorsement of this approach and their support over these 30 years."
Reeves-Sain will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, followed by a women's health day on Tuesday and special book reading on Friday. Additional activities will take place throughout the week.
In a few short years after its opening, the pharmacy grew, and owners Richard Reeves and Ron Powell were able to move into a building, where it now currently exists on Memorial Boulevard, according to Reeves' son, Shane, who now co-owns the business.
"Dad decided the store would need a different feel to compete with chains and new pharmacies," Reeves said, adding that's where the ideas for a soda and gift shop and post office originated.
Reeves recalled the day his father approached him about taking over the business.
"I remember like it was yesterday ... Rick Sain was a student that came through the business in 1989, and they hired him. I was going through pharmacy school and got out in 1994," he explained. "My dad and Ron approached Rick and I and asked if we wanted to buy it. We didn't have a clue what we were doing, but we had a lot of passion and a lot of energy."
In the mid-1990s, Reeves-Sain was formed and the two haven't looked back.
"Rick and I decided about that period of time that if we were going to survive as a pharmacy for years to come, we'd have to do two things — fill lots and lots of precriptions ... and be innovative and take on a lot of new specialties and niches," Reeves said.
By establishing relationships with its customers, giving back to the community and focusing on its niches as a pharmacy, Reeves-Sain has continued to be successful. But the company wouldn't survive, Reeves said, without a commitment to innovation.
"The foundation of this company has been excellent products delivered with a high level of customer service," he said. "But with the changes in the health care world in the last 30 years, those products and the delivery of them has had to change. We've always been excited about providing innovative solutions to this market and that enthusiasm has dovetailed with customer needs."
Sain said that the product mix has covered a variety of needs.
"We always have had the prescription business and the soda shop, but it wasn't long before we saw several needs that fit our business profile," he said, adding that a medical division was also created to provide medical equipment to individuals.
"We started a compounding unit, a respiratory division, a new presorted prescription program, MediPACK, and countless other services as needed — but always with the commitment to exceptional customer service."
For the future, Reeves said he plans to stay committed to the company's core values: staff, community service, faith and family.
"There's not a lot of independent pharmacies out there and certainly not many who've been around 30 years," Reeves said. "More and more people that I'm bumping into are starting to value that old-fashioned relationship with their pharmacists.
"They appreciate you taking an interest in their lives, their families and their health."
