When 84-year-old John Loveless went to a chain pharmacy last February, it was for one reason.
“I wasn’t in Waynesville,” said Loveless.
Otherwise, he would have ordered his prescriptions at Waynesville Pharmacy on South Main Street in Waynesville, one of about five independent pharmacies in Warren County and 500 in Ohio.
Ken Fields, an owner of the family business, said independent pharmacies, like his and his brother Kyle’s, are a dying breed.
“Throughout the past 10 years, many independent pharmacies have closed,” Ken Fields said, “but with the existence of new business models like my own, we’re bringing them back to the forefront of health care.”
In June, Fields was nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year by “Pharmacy Times” magazine and Parata Systems — a technology- solutions company for pharmacies. The winner will be announced in August.
His entrepreneurial developments include founding a national pharmacy benefit-management (PBM) company (ApproRX), a financial advising firm (Fields Family Financial Services), an insurance brokerage company (Hedges Gallery of Insurance in Waynesville) and a medical center (Fields’ Mini-Medical Clinic).
Each of these businesses exists under the banner of Waynesville Pharmacy, a fixture in the rural community since the brothers’ parents, pharmacists Jim and Ellen Fields, purchased the pharmacy from Loveless in 1984. They sold it to their sons four years ago.
Licensed insurance agent Kyle Fields said Waynesville Pharmacy follows the Andrew Carnegie business model, where the Fields brothers have their hands in a variety of health care-related areas.
In 2010, Waynesville Pharmacy was named the Most Innovative Pharmacy in America by “Drug Topics” magazine.
Ken Fields said large companies’ marketing, like Wal-Mart’s, gives the wrong message about prescription drug prices.
“Independent pharmacies are the same, if not cheaper, across the board on prescriptions,” Ken Fields said. “When people shop locally, the money remains local.”
Ken and Kyle Fields are negotiating the purchase of the Der Dutchmen property on U.S. 42 in Waynesville, which was damaged in an October fire last year.
While the owners of the previous restaurant have no plans to re-open, the Fields brothers want to open a similar restaurant and move the information-technology services of ApproRX to the property, which could supply up to 130 new jobs.
“It would be a great asset to the community,” Ken Fields said.