For more than 50 years, the Iola Pharmacy has been a fixture in downtown Iola.
Over the years the company expanded, including offering services at Allen County Regional Hospital, and then adding a drive-thru clinic at 1408 East St.
But with the pharmacy’s sale of its Hospital Pharmacy Management wing earlier this year, and now the closure of the drive-thru facility, it is once again truly a downtown business.
The drive-thru center, which shared space with the Veterans Administration and Family Physicians clinics on the outskirts of Iola, closed its doors May 15.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” noted Jim Bauer, co-owner alongside Bill Walden and Travis Coffield. “We evaluated that location for more than a year, and it’s not something any of us wanted to do. But business-wise, it’s more efficient for us to work out of a single location.”
Over the last decade the clinic on East Street has witnessed several changes.
Iola Pharmacy and The Family Physicians teamed up to build the facility in 2008.
Shortly thereafter, a dental clinic through the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas joined the location. In 2013, the CHC/SEK opened a medical clinic at the site with Drs. Glen Singer and Brian Wolfe on staff. In short order, the CHC/SEK outgrew the quarters and opened its own clinic on North State Street in 2018.
In early 2024, Ashley Clinic opened an office on South Washington, recruiting Dr. Tim Spears from Family Physicians.
Dr. Frank Porter remains with Family Physicians, but with only one doctor at the site, it has reduced the number of customers in need of pharmaceutical services.
THE VA CLINIC has been a boon to the community — “And they’ve been great to work with,” Bauer said — but it also has its own pharmacy program for its patients.
“We’ve loved having that location out there,” said Bauer, who was the first pharmacist in charge when the drive-thru location opened. “But it really didn’t make sense because with the foot traffic we lost.”
Morgan Karmann, the pharmacist in charge of the drive-thru clinic, has moved to the downtown store to work alongside Shane Walden.
Despite the closure, the pharmacy’s business has remained “as busy as can be,” Bauer said. “Really, we’re booming now. We think we can offer better services more efficiently.”
With the consolidation, the pharmacy has brought back curbside pickup services, which had been in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pharmacy continues to offer delivery and mail service as well, Bauer noted.
