Family Medical Center Pharmacy Under New Ownership

Family Medical Center Pharmacy is under new ownership.
Blake and Susannah Cripps Daughtry have bought the business from Susannah’s parents, Gary and Susan Cripps.
“I’m a Smithville native. I’m living in Dothan, Alabama right now,” said Susannah Daughtry. ” I’m married to Blake Daughtry and we have four children. I graduated from the Auburn Pharmacy School in 1995. I have been a pharmacist for several years. Pharmacy has been a part of my family my whole life. My dad and my sister are both pharmacists,” said Daughtry.
Blake Daughtry, a native of Alabama, said he and Susannah look forward to serving this community. “We’re just excited to be back in Smithville and taking over her family’s pharmacy which has been here for 38 years. We’re looking forward to it, ” said Daughtry.
Rumors have surfaced recently that Family Medical Center Pharmacy was going out of business, but Blake said nothing could be further from the truth. He said “we are alive and well and eager to continue serving our customers. Some of the big chain stores in town sent out letters to people in Smithville saying that we were closing our doors. That’s not the case. We’re happy to be here and proud to be here. We’re really looking forward to the future. One of the things we looked at when this opportunity came along was keeping small town businesses in Smithville. Its been a tough economy for everybody. I know in different places businesses have closed down and moved on. You’ve got your big box stores, your Walmarts and Rite Aids and things coming in. We think its important to keep the community together and have locally owned small town businesses that have been here for years continue to be here and thrive. So we’re excited to be able to keep those jobs here and to be able to give a service back to the community as well as have a good thriving business. We’re excited about the opportunity,” said Daughtry.
The Family Medical Center Pharmacy’s history goes back 38 years. “It started as Price-France Pharmacy, “said Susannah Daughtry. “My dad came back from the University of Tennessee. He taught pharmacy school there. When he came back he bought in with Gordon Price and Erby France. The store was known as Price-France Pharmacy at that time. Later on it became Cripps-France Pharmacy when they bought out Gordon Price. Years later Erby retired and it became dad’s store. He and mother then ran the store. I’ve been raised in that store. We used to be over there by the First Methodist Church. That was the old building where the doctor’s building was. Then when there was an opportunity to move the practice and the pharmacy with it, they built the new building there (North Congress Boulevard) which is really nice. It gives us a great location in Smithville,” said Daughtry
A new pharmacist will soon be joining the staff and some new product lines may be added . A grand opening will be held within a few weeks. “The staff is going to be the same,” said Susannah. “We’ll have all the same friendly faces that have been there for several years. We will have a new pharmacist come December 14. When she comes on board we’ll share with everybody a little bit more about her. The changes we’re making, we’re working on doing things that are going to position us to take better care of our patients and meet all of their pharmacy needs. Things that will make us more efficient and faster. We just want to make sure we’re taking the best care we can of the patients that come into our store. Its really a nice opportunity for me. It just gives me an excuse to come home so much more and be a part of the community that I was raised in. I will be working in the store some too as a pharmacist,” said Susannah.
“We’re bringing in new products and re-stocking shelves so the transition is going to take a few days but you’re going to see some nice new signage and new products in the store,” said Blake Daughtry. ” We’re going to try and freshen things up. Gary and Susan have built a great business there and we just want to continue that going forward. I think over the next couple of weeks everybody will see some big changes. We plan on having a grand opening maybe by the first of the year. We’ll let everyone know because we’d love to have everybody come out and see us,” said Daughtry.