Jackson Free Press

Just off Interstate 55 at the Maywood Mart Shopping Center, Jacksonians will find Beemon Drugs, a locally owned pharmacy that has been—like the entrance sign says—"Filling Jackson's Needs" since 1956. Chances are you will also meet Lester Hailey, carefully stocking the day's prescriptions behind the raised platform that separates customers from the pharmacy. Hailey is usually busy at work, providing the services that helped earn Beemon Drugs the honor of becoming the Most Valuable Pharmacy at the 2013 Independent Pharmacy Cooperative Convention that took place in Palm Springs this past April.

Hailey, a 36-year pharmacy veteran, was initially modest about the national award (he was unable to attend the convention), but he acknowledged that the IPC selected Beemon from more than 4,000 independent pharmacies. "We were honored to be able to receive the award and the recognition," Hailey says. "We've been to the convention in the past, though we didn't make it this year. It's a great opportunity to meet other independent pharmacists and to keep up with new things in the industry."

A native of Troy, Tenn., Hailey, now 59, moved to Jackson in 1977 after completing his studies at the University of Mississippi's School of Pharmacy and has been working at Beemon Drugs since the fall of that year. He took full ownership of the pharmacy—one of the last fully operational independent drugstores in the Jackson area—10 years ago and shares some of the pharmaceutical duties with his wife, Ellen, a relief pharmacist at Beemon who holds a full-time position as an inpatient supervisor at the VA Medical Center.

Hailey contributes much of Beemon's success to what he calls the store's accessibility and its emphasis on personal interactions. He says pharmacies are often the first health resource for many people in the community, often with a phone call from the patient. They depend on Beemon for practical health advice, and Hailey and his staff strive to serve each customer's individual needs.

It is this type of thorough and inviting service that Hailey believes separates smaller, locally owned drugstores from larger chain stores and franchises. Besides providing personable care to patients, Hailey also says that Beemon's long-running delivery service is unique to small drugstores, offering an invaluable service to patients who may have difficulties picking up medicines. He credits employees like Rowan Brinston, a 55-year veteran of Beemon Drugs and its chief deliveryman, for maintaining the high quality Beemon's customers expect.

The MVP award that Beemon received included a $10,000 grant that was divided between a pharmacy school of Hailey's choice, an employee endowment, and an allocation for the owner of the pharmacy.

"We were actually able to give some of the award money, $2,000, to our staff here," Hailey says, "as well as a $5,000 donation to the School of Pharmacy at Ole Miss."

Hailey looks toward the future of Beemon Drugs with hope and careful preparation—a combination that has helped his pharmacy survive within the ever-changing health-care industry. It is often difficult to compete against industry "big boys," such as Walgreens and CVS, but Hailey hopes there will always be a place for smaller drugstores like Beemon Drugs, which he says has kept up with industry shifts in newer drugs and electronic prescriptions.

"It's all changing," Hailey says. "That's inevitable, but we keep doing what we do well."