Meet Lucas Smith | Independent Pharmacy Owner / Pharmacist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lucas Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lucas, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
As a independent community pharmacy my business has a significant impact on the community. Our motto is “Our Family for You” which means that our staff will go above and beyond to treat each and every person that comes into our store like they are family. We try to care for them and offer the services they need. I am proud that my business adds services that meet the needs of our community. Some of those services include oxygen concentrator rentals, hearing screenings, diabetes management education, immunizations, patient specific compounding, and more. One of the most recent services we have added is point of care testing and treatment for common illnesses such as COVID, Flu, Strep, UTIs and more. By offering this service we provide easier access to care in a rural setting where it might be difficult to access a doctor or medical professional quickly. Along with education and testing we help our patients remember to take their medications by offering adherence packaging so their daily meds are sorted for morning, noon, and evening when they pick them up.

Along with health care in our community we strive to give back. By sponsoring many organizations such as Boys and Girls Club, the high school booster club, Elevate Her, the Optimist Club, and many more we hope the help other organizations support our community. Every year we dedicate a percentage of our sales around the Christmas holiday season to a local non-profit organization.

My wife and I and our two children love to be a part of this small rural mountain community and enjoy being able to see our patients and customers outside of the pharmacy at community events and seeing the impact we have are helping them be healthy.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I greatly enjoy being a community pharmacy owner. I am proud of the ability my business can pivot and add new services the community needs. I got into pharmacy ownership during pharmacy school. While in school I was the president of our school origination that focused on pharmacy ownership. While part of that group I participated in creating several mock business plans for opening a pharmacy. This group allowed me to network with current pharmacy owners. After graduation I was hired on to work at Buena Vista Drug. The business was owned by 7 current pharmacy owners and they were creating a model where a new pharmacist could slowly take over a pharmacy and become the full owner. After 3 years I became the full owner of Buena Vista Drug. Over the last 7 years pharmacy ownership has been very challenging. Due to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), dispensing medications does not result in a positive profit for the business. Nearly all medications dispensed are reimbursed at or below the cost of the medication making a very small margin to operate the business. As a result we have expanded to more services for the community. Adding immunizations, point of care testing, medical equipment rentals, and and extensive gift section we have been able to thrive in very difficult business market. As a business owner I have learned to invest in your team because you can not due it all by yourself. I have always been the type of person that likes to do it myself and it has taken many years for me to realize I can’t to it all and that by investing and involving your employees the business can grow and thrive. One of the most challenging times for my business was during COVID. With all the vaccines and testing my employees were getting overwhelmed and tired. By working with them and including them we were able to improve our workflows to accommodate the increased services and maintain a healthy workplace. I would like people to know that independent community pharmacy is still striving and that we love being part of the community and providing services that meet a need in the community.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Being in a rural mountain setting in Colorado there are so many outdoor things we could do. Depending on the season I would either go skiing and Monarch Mountain, snow showing, ice fishing, or enjoying the hot springs at Mount Princeton Hot Springs. Places we would eat would be the Buena Viking for the best burger in the area and The Blend for morning breakfast and coffee. During the summer we would go hiking up one of the 14,000 foot mountains, relax by the lake, or go rafting down the Arkansas River with Noah’s Ark or River Runners. After all the adventures I would stop at Salida Pharmacy & Fountain for a sweet treat and to take a step back in time. We would also enjoy the live music in South Main or the local town park. Buena Vista and Chaffee County has so much to offer I am not sure we could do it all in just 1 week.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to shout out to Rx Plus Pharmacies. This organization got me started in the pharmacy ownership pathway back in pharmacy school by including me in their organization and annual meetings where I could meet pharmacy owners and learn about how they had been successful. They also helped me work on several business plans to learn more about running a successful business. Finally, a group of their board members gave me the opportunity to step into pharmacy ownership immediately after graduation by taking me in as a mentee and allowing me to slowly gain ownership into Buena Vista Drug over several years. Without Rx Plus Pharmacies I can guarantee I would not have been as successful in my business career.

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