Abts Pharmacy and Gifts

It has been 2 months since our last post but we have a good excuse! As most of you know, we are moving back to Colorado. That in and of itself is likely a good reason to be too busy to post to our blog. However, the real reason we haven't posted anything is that we are purchasing an existing pharmacy in Julesburg, CO which is turning out to be more work than anything we've ever imagined.

When we tell people we are buying a pharmacy we usually get a jaw-dropping exclamation of some sort followed by a request for the story that led us to this new adventure. Thus, we've decided to post the saga here on the blog (which gets automatically uploaded to facebook) to save us from repeating ourselves hundreds of times. We've already told the story about a dozen times so this version here should be pretty accurate. It will, however, be very long.

Told from Melissa's perspective:
When we decided a year ago to move back to Colorado to be closer to family (and because we were sick of the MN cold weather), the assumption was always that I would find a teaching position at my alma mater: the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy. When I learned that Regis was opening a School of Pharmacy as well, I was excited to have the potential for more options. As the time to actually look for a job neared, we both realized that we just were not looking forward to living in Denver. We have grown accustomed to life in a smaller town. We were most definitely NOT eagerly anticipating sitting in traffic, having a long commute, living close to neighbors...the list goes on...but I really didn't want to go back to working for a big chain pharmacy and there aren't that many clinical pharmacist jobs outside of the hospital setting to choose from.

Now Travis is notorious for his ability to function normally (well, normal for Travis anyway), on relatively little sleep. He often puts me to bed and then gets up after I fall asleep and surfs the net. One night back in February he was doing just that when he got the idea to look for pharmacies for sale in Colorado. Those of you who know Travis should not be surprised by this idea as he is always thinking outside the box and coming up with all manner of crazy schemes. He discovered four pharmacies for sale in Colorado: one in a mountain town (too expensive to live there), one in a dying mining town (no explanation needed), one in southern Colorado (too far away and he is not a big fan of southern Colorado), and one out in the plains. Without talking to me about it, he filled out a brief form and signed a non-disclosure agreement to get more information on the pharmacy.

Fast-forward a day or two: I am very, very sick...sick enough to miss an entire week of work...when Travis decides to share his brilliant idea with me. He waits until I finish vomiting (so nice of him) and then says something along the lines of "What do you think about buying a pharmacy?" For all you pharmacy folks out there, you will understand why my immediate response was an emphatic NO. In fact, every time he opened his mouth to say anything, I just said NO. He graciously left me alone...for a few hours...before he tried again...and again...and again to talk to me about this idea. I think I finally gave in and agreed to at least see the information solely to get him to stop bugging me.

Fast-forward one week: I am convinced by Travis' irrepressible enthusiasm and optimism that we can actually own a pharmacy. I forget everything I've ever heard about independent pharmacy ownership: long hours, no vacations, you live and breath at the store. Instead, I embrace the dream of raising our girls in a small town, being able to leave doors unlocked, and "changing our family tree" (in the words of Dave Ramsey) through the financial benefits of owning this fiscally stable business. I imagine being able to take care of my patients in whatever way I think is best. I start talking to my trusted confidants. Everyone I tell thinks that this would be a perfect fit for both me and my family. No one tells me I am crazy. Maybe this could actually work.

Fast-forward one month (March 2009): We run into all kinds of trouble trying to find financing in the current economy. It doesn't help that our new president has changed the banking rules with regards to how much banks can loan on what they call "blue sky" under a small business loan. Basically, when you buy a pharmacy you are buying very little real property. Instead, you are trusting that the customers will continue to come there...hence the "blue sky." The new banking rules would make it such that we had to come up with a significant chunk of change on our own. We head out to Colorado so I can interview at Regis because we aren't sure if this whole pharmacy thing is going to work. We go to Julesburg to check out the pharmacy and meet the owners. We fall in love with the town, the store, everything. Yep, we definitely want to do this, but we are having a heck of a time finding a way to buy the place.

Enter my amazing boss, Randy Seifert. He knows someone in everyone area of pharmacy, including the folks who help pharmacists buy pharmacies. He connects me with a consulting company that eventually gets us a loan (but that whole process takes two months). The consultant has us fill out forms (the first of many) and says he'll get back to us in a day or two to let us know if we are pre-approved. He calls us in an hour saying we would be crazy NOT to buy the place and he we are approved! Yes, it is THAT good of a store (I think that is bad English but you get the point).

Fast forward two months (May 2009): We have a trip to Mexico planned for over a year that gets cancelled thanks to H1N1 flu. No worries, we just book ourselves some tickets to Colorado for a 12 day trip. We hang out in Breckenridge for awhile waiting for one tiny piece of paper that will allow us to go to Julesburg and meet everyone at the store. The paper finally comes and we are off. Murl, the owner, finally tells his staff that he is selling the pharmacy (it had been a secret the whole time). We arrive with the girls knowing that our kids will pave the way! Sure enough, they are a hit and we are instant celebrities! By the end of day one, we've looked at a bunch of houses, met the county commissioner, and got the girls registered at school. By day two, the local paper has contacted Murl for a story and we found a place to rent. There is a whole nother story about the rental house, but we'll save that for another post. We are actually going to do this!!

Fast forward to today: So there is a RIDICULOUS amount of paperwork involved with purchasing a pharmacy. We basically spend every night filling out forms and then play phone tag with various folks during the day. We have barely started packing and we are set to leave on June 19th...just 10 days! We are so excited to start this new adventure and a bit nervous about small town life as business owners. We appreciate your prayers during this busy time or just happy thoughts if you're not the praying type. We will most definitely miss our Vineyard family, the College of Pharmacy and the beauty of Lake Superior. We will most definitely NOT miss sub-zero temperatures and forty degree weather on June 8th!

I almost forgot to give the scoop on the town! It is the county seat so it actually has quite a bit of stuff: county courthouse, library, elementary/jr.high/high school, nursing home, assisted living facility, and critical access hospital with a helipad. There are somewhere between 1247 and 1500 people in the town depending on which website you look at. The website for the town is: http://www.townofjulesburg.com/.

Thanks for reading this first installation of the Abts Pharmacy saga.