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1st Rx Pharmacy opens new location
Bruce Matlock photo
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Published: August 13, 2009
The newest location of 1st Rx Pharmacy has the same hometown feel owner Larry Marlin's fostered during the past 17 years, but with a little more pizzazz.
Customers compared the brightly colored pharmacy to a ski lodge or a welcome center. These observations were the "wow" factor Marlin wanted when he decided to paint the interior of his sixth pharmacy location 19 different colors.
"I like the pharmacy," customer Dan Wiles Jr. told Marlin after receiving his prescription.
The pharmacy, located on the corner of Greenbriar Road and U.S. Highway 64, has a lot of similarities to Marlin's first location on North Center Street. It has the Village Inn Cafe, which is open from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., the medical equipment and over-the-counter medications.
"It's wonderful," Statesville resident Catherine Tomlin said of the food. "The first week he was open I was out here three times."
The store was designed for convenience, Marlin said. The aisles are wider and three of them have merchandise for $1. There are drive-thrus for prescriptions and food. He's even stocked an aisle with different size kiddie pools.
"This store is unique," Marlin said. "Being larger, we have an opportunity to provide more choices for people."
First Rx Pharmacy opened in 1992 on North Center Street. A few years later, Harmony Drug was opened, followed by locations in Troutman, Stony Point and near Union Grove.
The new location introduces a new emphasis on wellness to the chain. In addition to a machine to check blood pressure, Marlin also plans to have an area where people can check their cholesterol and weigh themselves.
He also wants to host discussions with physicians.
"Wellness is the way to do it," he said. "We should be involved. We are interested in people's lives. Most of my business is about helping people."
Marlin said his friend, John Kurfees, suggested the corner plot two to three years ago as a possibility. After doing some research, Marlin agreed because he feels the East Statesville area has a lot of growth potential.
Coincidentally, the corner also used to be the location of Chat Nibble, the German restaurant where his first boss, Tommy Simpson, used to take him after Medical Center Pharmacy closed.
Marlin wants to eventually open Chat Nibble II next door. So far, the neighborhood and customers from the North Center Street store have welcomed the new addition, Marlin said.
Eddy Mitchell's morning golf game was rained out Wednesday, so he decided to drop in and eat at the Greenbriar Village Cafe.
Mitchell and Marlin were talking about the prices for prescriptions, and Marlin offered to help Mitchell.
"All the neighbors that are around, they've been good to come by," he said. "I find helping people fun.
There is something good to be said about running a business in the town where you grew up."
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