Ukrop's Pharmacy: Drug Topics' 2006 Chain of the Year

At a glance

Ukrop's Supermarket Pharmacy is Drug Topics' Pharmacy Chain of the Year for 2006. The chain provides outstanding services to patients including:

These accomplishments led Drug Topics to select this bantam player as its Pharmacy Chain of the Year for 2006.

History of the chain

Ukrop's, a family-owned supermarket chain founded by Joe Ukrop and his wife, Jacquelin, in 1937, opened its first pharmacy in 1989. By 1994, the chain had five pharmacies. Today there are 23 pharmacies. The chain employs 78 pharmacists and 72 technicians. The average size of the pharmacies is 500 sq. ft. The chain operates in the greater metropolitan Richmond area, with the exception of a store in Fredericksburg and another in Williamsburg. Ukrop's is expected to have 25 pharmacies by this fall, celebrating grand openings in Williamsburg in October and Roanoke in November.

Finding a niche market

Armed with the slogan, "Wellness, Nutrition, and Disease Management," Ukrop's has indeed made a strong commitment to provide wellness and disease state management to its patients. "Over the years, we've tried to promote wellness and disease management," said Beckner. "Early on, our pharmacies were your typical dispensing-type pharmacies. But we gravitated to a format that has the pharmacy dispensing area and a private counseling room or wellness center, where we perform all of our disease management functions."

Four of Ukrop's stores are approved by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as sites for diabetes education. Individual counseling and group sessions are offered. Several stores have community rooms that seat 20 people, and in some of the newer and larger stores there are meeting rooms that accommodate about 60 people.