Independent Insights, a Health Mart Podcast

Episode 15: From End Cap to Enterprise: Unlocking the Power of Front-End & DME

• Health Mart

Share episode

What if the key to boosting your pharmacy’s revenue—and your community impact—was already within your four walls?

In this episode of Independent Insights, host Suzanne Feeney sits down with Alex Anderson, sixth-generation owner of Oswald’s Pharmacy, to explore how he transformed a single lift chair into a thriving front-end and DME (Durable Medical Equipment) business that now spans 5,000+ square feet and drives significant revenue.

Whether you’re a one-person show or managing a full team, this episode is packed with practical, scalable strategies to help you:

Start small and smart with DME—even with limited space or staff

  • Identify top-performing front-end products that meet real community needs
  • Use rentals to generate recurring revenue with minimal investment
  • Leverage your team’s hidden talents to grow marketing and outreach
  • Drive foot traffic with smart merchandising, local partnerships, and online visibility

You’ll also hear how Alex uses inventory as a strategic tool—not just a shelf filler—to create a one-stop shop that keeps customers coming back. 

If you’ve ever wondered how to diversify your revenue, better serve your patients, and make your front-end work harder for your business, this is the 
episode you can’t afford to miss.

Host
Suzanne Feeney, PharmD
VP, Pharmacy Retail Operations
McKesson/Health Mart

Guests
Alex Anderson
Owner
Oswald's Pharmacy

Resources
Tune into Independent Insights Episode 12: The Power of Partnerships 

Health Mart Pharmacies can access Health Mart University (HMU) for:

  • Helpful CE and non-CE courses and more on front-end  
  • Health Mart pharmacists to claim their CE credit for weekly Gamechanger episodes  


The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the guest and do not necessarily represent the views or positions of Health Mart, McKesson or its affiliates or subsidiaries ("McKesson”). The information provided herein is for informational purposes only and does not constitute the rendering of clinical, legal or other professional advice by McKesson.

Suzanne: [00:00:00] Welcome to Independent Insights, a Health Mart podcast focused on independent pharmacy. My name is Suzanne Feeney, and I'm a pharmacist on the McKesson Health Mart team. Joining us today is Alex Anderson, owner of Oswald's Pharmacy in Naperville.

Are you looking for ideas to grow independent pharmacy and make a greater impact in your community? Look no further. Welcome to Independent Insights, the podcast brought to you by Health Mart. Episodes delve into a wide range of topics to provide you with the practical strategies, expert insights, and inspiring stories to help you and your pharmacy excel.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Health Mart, McKesson, or its affiliates and subsidiaries (“McKesson”). The information provided is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, or any other type of professional advice from McKesson.

Pharmacists are expected to exercise reasonable care as dictated by legal and [00:01:00] professional standards and are ultimately responsible for decisions related to patient care and medication management. It is your responsibility to review and comply with all applicable state and federal laws, rules, and regulations governing your business operations. This includes laws applicable to businesses in general, those pertinent to employers, and those specifically regulating the practice of pharmacy.​

Suzanne: Thanks so much for being here with us today, Alex. 

Alex: Thanks, Suzanne. Excited to chat today. 

Suzanne: We have a great episode for all of you out there listening, we're going to really dig into Alex's front end of pharmacy and his DME business, which has really grown from zero, right? Alex, you took that from zero all the way up to billions of dollars. No, just kidding. But a pretty significant percentage of your revenue. So before we jump into that. Will you just tell us a little bit, set the stage what your pharmacy is because it is- from all the pharmacy I've been in- it's very different. It's very big. And I don't know, I'm [00:02:00] guessing like 10,000 square feet. Does that feel right? 

Alex: So we're a little bigger.

We're 15,000 square feet. 

Suzanne: Oh, wow. Okay. 

Alex: And that's, it's funny 'cause that's about the average size of I think like a chain pharmacy. Yeah. But our product assortment is very different. 

Suzanne: Yes. 

Alex: And so first and foremost, we've been a pharmacy, this is our hundred 50th year, so I'm the sixth generation of my family to run the pharmacy.

Suzanne: Congrats.

Alex: Thank you. Yeah, we're really excited doing a lot this year to celebrate that, but yeah, first and foremost, a pharmacy serving our patients a full-

Suzanne: yeah. 

Alex: Retail, pharmacy free delivery the whole nine yards that, every brick and mortar mom and pop pharmacy has been doing for a while. And yeah, where we've differentiated over the years is just really expanding our front end. And I think what's over the last two generations of ownership, myself and my father, is where that's been possible is we both, which is unique to us compared to most of my peers in the industry, they're all pharmacy owner operators, or I'm an owner operator, not a pharmacist. So if I need some help, Suzanne, you can come in and get behind the on the bench. 

Suzanne: I have my Illinois license. I'm all good. [00:03:00] 

Alex: And so that really has freed us up to do so much more on the front end, especially expanding that DME department over the past decade.

Suzanne: So if we have some of our pharmacies out there who are listening are saying, oh, man that's not me. I'm a one person show. I don't really have any opportunity for extra staff. What would you think, how could you encourage them to maybe give it a try or hire some people to look into this type of business?

Alex: I look at it, even some peers in the in industry that are smaller, apothecary size pharmacies. 

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: You might have that one technician who's younger, a little hungrier, has some ideas. Utilize what you have, because I get it. My friends who are pharmacy owner operators, they're up to their eyeballs and just constant, they're constantly busy, constantly have things to do.

So it's and I get it. It's hard as an owner to delegate because you're like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it best. But if you can find someone in your team and start small, whether it's okay, we're gonna start a social media program. We're gonna start a local marketing program. We're gonna get out in the community and do this.

We're gonna start by just doing a small end cap of [00:04:00] DME items. Yeah, there's just small places you can start and as you and I have talked about, just being collaborative, talking to your other peers in the industry, get ideas and start somewhere, start small, but yet utilize someone else on your team. You've got enough on your plate and you can oversee that assistance. 

Suzanne: I'll mess up the quote 'cause I'm putting myself in that position, but it's always don't let perfect be the enemy of done or started. And I tend to do that myself. It's oh, I know where I wanna get. And it feels so far away that sometimes it's hard to take that first step. I always remember one of the first times I visited your pharmacy, you had that sign that you showed me about when you started DME and wasn't it like zero or just start, or your goal was like a hundred dollars. It was something really small, I feel like.

And looking at where you're at now, where you have half of your square footage really dedicated to DME, take us through that journey. Like how did you think, okay, I'm actually gonna start from truly nothing, right? This wasn't a business you had been part of, it was a traditional pharmacy. So what made you wanna start and take [00:05:00] us through that journey?

Alex: I'd like to think like every pharmacy has at least their toes in the water of DME. Maybe it's a hot water bottle or a cane you get from your drug wholesaler. You've got a few things and that, that's the way we always were. We always had a few items that you would consider DME.

Suzanne: If someone asked you, maybe be like yeah, we could get that. 

Alex: And, like most pharmacy wholesalers have a small brace line or a few 80 aids to daily living. So you can get in and that's, there you go. That's a great first step. And if you don't carry anything, see what your drug wholesaler has, bring in a few items.

So that's how we always were. And in the nineties we, it was going to a conference, collaborating, talking with other pharmacy owners and one of 'em had lift chairs and we're like, oh, that's an interest. So we brought in one lift chair. And I think we sold maybe one a quarter.

Suzanne: Okay.

Alex: So it wasn't until we moved locations and expanded from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. In 2004, we said, okay, we've got a little more space. So then we [00:06:00] got two lift chairs and started working directly with a company that had a wide line of DME and ADLs geared towards retail.

And at the time we did a little billing, but it was mostly just cash. We were accredited but billing wasn't a huge part of it. It was mostly a cash and carry DME business. And then by 2010 we started renting items 'cause that was a question oh, I don't wanna buy this wheelchair, I don't wanna buy this knee walker, but can I rent it?

That's something that started on paper. It was just something people, we'd write down the name, here you go. And then by 2015, we went from a couple lift chairs and a four foot section to then our DME. We had about 36 linear square feet and we had about four lift chairs. So it really grew over those 10 years from 2005 to 2015, and at that point our neighbor moved out a real estate office and we had the opportunity to expand another 5,000 square feet. And just seeing that trajectory of , how small of a space we dedicated to DME and how that grew both in dollars and square footage and, something the community [00:07:00] needed that really wasn't available anywhere else. So it really didn't feel like much of a gamble. It was a no brainer at that point. So we expanded into that space next door, and that's where we, went full steam ahead and hired a full-time delivery and repair technician. 

Suzanne: Oh wow. 

Alex: We went from four lift chairs to 20, now there's 40.

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: And especially in a small space, that's something we did like even, to someone who's not in DME 5,000 square feet sound like a lot. But even we've run outta space and that's where we've gone vertical. So even in a small space, you can get some shelving to, we put lift chairs or rollators on top of each other. 

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: So we can take advantage of our square footage. And it's grown since then. And two years ago now, we opened a second just medical equipment location so that's been a huge part of our business. And we all know that independent pharmacy has been really tough these past few years, so it's been a great offset to some of those losses we're facing on the pharmacy end.

Suzanne: Yeah, absolutely. And I have to imagine that as a brick and mortar and so many product lines go [00:08:00] online, that this has to really drive people into the pharmacy because you wanna try out that chair, you wanna look and touch and see the different braces that are there, like your option of braces is you just have every possible choice there. And I think when you're looking for those sorts of products. It's really nice to be able to see what you're buying. And then you have the floor staff as experts to really help with, fitting canes, fitting walkers, really getting that touch and feel so folks are getting the best product for them and not just ordering something online. 

Alex: Yeah. Being a millennial I knew I needed a website that had the option to shop. 

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: Cause that's, if I went to a website and that wasn't there, I'd be like, oh, maybe they don't have a great selection.

But I don't use my website to sell. I use it as a way to drive people into the store, because for the time being that's the end goal. We want people to come in and try everything out. And these are still items, especially, the more costly items when you're looking at wheelchairs or rollators or knee walkers, lift chairs, that's something that, yeah, when you're spending that kinda money, people want to try it out. It's a lot riskier to buy it online. 

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: And that's where we really promote all of the other services. The value [00:09:00] added, buying it from a local company that we can quickly service it, that we deliver it, that we have warranty, programs you can participate in. Things you can't get online. It really is that personal touch from us dispensing drugs to selling medical equipment, that's what people look for in their independent pharmacy and we're making sure that they know that when they're shopping that side of our store.

Suzanne: Yeah. You said a couple of things that stood out to me. Having the inventory online to look at, I think that is so typical of our shopping patterns now. You go and you look and you're like, oh, yeah, okay. I feel confident about walking in there because they have a lot of choices and options.

And then also making it just as easy, if not easier than online, because you can touch it, feel it, test it out, but then you also get that service, that delivery, the repair, the warranty, so all that is also included. That I think is something that, if someone's starting out in DME and has just those smaller end caps may not think about as they're projecting out to grow. So I just wanna make sure to call those out. Just backtracking a little bit, one of the things I picked up is you said in 2010 you did a lot of rentals 'cause maybe people didn't wanna invest and purchase [00:10:00] that if they needed it for a short time.

Do you find that the rental market is still hot or are people more just buying the products now? 

Alex: The rental market's been great. I had a friend who wasn't pharmacy but just DME and he sold his business years ago, but he said if he'd do it again, he would just do rentals because that was such a profitable part of the business because, as long as you, once you purchase it, you can rent that out again and again. And when we started small, we didn't have anyone. It was, myself, my brother, my dad, who was in the back room fixing a knee walker if it needed a replacement. Now we have full-time technicians, but again, when you're starting small, get a knee walker, get a wheelchair, get a set of crutches, a rollator, and you'll easily pay that first purchase back, just renting it out a couple times.

And-

Suzanne: yeah, 

Alex: you'll figure out if you do need to repair it often you can just buy a replacement unit once you've made your money back on it. It's a very profitable part of the business that I think a lot of communities are looking for because especially if it's an acute need and it's a temporary use, they don't wanna buy it and they'll happily rent and often look for that option [00:11:00] first. 

You're listening to Independent Insights, a McKesson Health Mart podcast with host Suzanne Feeney, VP Pharmacy Retail Operations for McKesson/Health Mart. And guest, Alex Anderson, owner of Oswald's Pharmacy in Naperville. 

Let's continue. 

Suzanne: The other question I had is you were going through your journey and your growth is you mapped out a really great trajectory, but how did you do that? Were you out looking for, physical therapists, occupational therapists to partner with and let them know that they could send patients to you? Was, there marketing campaigns that you did in your community. And obviously you live in a very populous area. I'm curious, do people drive from far away because you have such a square footage, so how did you grow that and really get to know your community needs to have enough customers to support. 

Alex: Yeah, just a funny anecdote to start. We're in northern Illinois, right outside of Chicago. We had someone drive up from Tennessee to try one of our walkers because it was a new to [00:12:00] market item. We're close with a lot of the industry vendors and we were one of the first stores to carry it. So he drove all the way up to try, didn't buy it, but that was, he wanted to try it and he got to do it.

Suzanne: Okay. I have to know, like what was so special about the walker that made it stand out? 

Alex: It was when the upright walkers came out where you're standing up, so it helps your posture. That was a new to market item. Like you've seen the rollators, the traditional folding walkers where you're hunched over.

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: So that was a new item and we were one of the only stores carrying it at the time. So the importance of, keeping an eye on what's happening in the industry. But I think it's twofold it's, old fashioned, as one of my friends calls it "10 toes marketing" , which is a big part of it. And then online, every time we're going through accounting my father who still works in the business, he just shakes his head looking at how much we spend with online advertising. He goes, back in my day it was newspapers, radio ads. I can't believe how much you spend with this one particular search engine that shouldn't be named, but that's a huge part of it. That's where- 

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: -Whether it's an online sale or in store. Oh, how'd you hear about us? [00:13:00] Oh, online.

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: Which often is a search engine and you can see what people are typing in wheelchair near me. Knee walker rental near me, and you can see those search terms that people are finding you for.

A lot of retirement communities will do events where they'll highlight local vendors. So it's community involvement on so many levels for me is an important tool in marketing.

Suzanne: Yeah. And for our audience, Alex that's what you do. You're a marketer. Your dad was a pharmacist, you're a marketer. So it's interesting to me to see all that you're able to do with search engine optimization, which is that SEO, that fancy term for making sure that you're catching all of those searches that are put into search engines online, and then you're able to look at that data. So for folks that aren't in marketing or don't have somebody to do that, how do you suggest making sure that's not forgotten because so often I see great community needs great business ideas, whether it's nutrient supplements or DME but the marketing part doesn't happen, and I think without that it is really [00:14:00] hard to drive foot traffic to your stores or create awareness even that those products are there. 

Alex: Again, I think that's what you were saying earlier don't look for perfection out the gate or a huge marketing program, start small. Even with the online search ads, I, taught myself and quickly learned okay, this is insane. I need to hire somebody. And again, an interesting story is my brother who he grew up working for the pharmacy and currently he works with a marketing firm and does websites and SEO. 

Suzanne: Oh, nice. 

Alex: And one of their niches in their company is doing like medical equipment, independent pharmacy, because he knows it so well. Because I said, "Hey, these ads are crazy, doing this online stuff can you help me? He learned it and then that's become his career. And again, it's starting small even, a lot of the social media networks, you can boost a post or just pay and then they'll get it out there for you. I don't think is as impactful as the search engine advertising, but, start small and then find someone trusted in your community. There are a lot of small marketing [00:15:00] firms that know their way around online ads that can help you, and then often they'll do website and social media too.

So just finding a company that you trust and can work with. 

Suzanne: I like better than my answer. I'm like, are there college students around? Maybe they could help? The kids these days. 

Alex: I mentioned earlier, if you've got a technician or an employee on the front end, I have, one of my employees who I hired as a a pharmacy technician. She spends half of her time off the bench now doing marketing, going out to community events, doing our social media posts, and when we hired her, she was just an amazing, super friendly technician who lived very close to the pharmacy and knows the community. But as I saw her, I'm like, oh, you know how to use that darn TikTok with them dances?

And then she, was like, I don't even know how to use TikTok. So she quickly helped me with social media and then took it over. I do some of our Throwback Thursdays, just knowing the family business history. But yeah, she does majority of our social media marketing and in-person events now. And that grew out of just asking one of my technicians, "Hey, can you help me with this?". And now she's doing that with half of her [00:16:00] time. 

Suzanne: And to take a little detour, I think you do such a nice job of that with your staff. You have such a large staff. So I think whether, our listeners have large staff or small staff, there's still always that, how do I grow my career and how do I take that next step? And so I think, looking for opportunities to really have that career journey for pharmacy technicians is awesome. And like you said, you don't really know what people are interested in or capable of unless you ask and give them that chance. So appreciate you sharing that story.

Alex: I think in a small business, if you're a technician and there's opportunity to do some more things, it, makes your job more interesting, and it keeps you more engaged. Then if you're the extremely busy pharmacist owner operator on the bench, 50 hours a week, oh, thank God that tech's gonna do that for me.

That's one less thing I've gotta do. 

Suzanne: And give them a little ownership and autonomy. That's really cool. Shifting back to DME, you've alluded to this a little bit, but what types of front end or DME products do you think tend to perform the best? And then also where would you start? With those ones that perform the best, or would you start with something else? 

Alex: So we actually GPO I'm [00:17:00] part of USA . We worked with one of our DME vendors and I get the plight of the owner operator pharmacist, who's so busy. So I was like, okay, give me a three foot end cap, a four foot section of peg board. What are the top selling items that you could squeeze in here that could just start you on your journey to the DME? I think that starts with ADLs, which is aids to daily living. So the shoe horns, braces falls more under orthopedics. But again, and these are items you could even start with getting from your probably your drug wholesaler. 

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Alex: Because a lot of 'em carry these basics.

And then if you're gonna have some floor space, and that's what's nice is a lot of the vendors, you can get a rollator to put on the floor or you can get one in a box. Now, downside of the box, you do probably want to build one so people can test it out, but if you don't have that space, you can get it in a box.

There are those items you can fit in a very small section. Again, is just dipping your toes in the water at DME, which I think is a great place to start. We still have another 8,000 square feet of the store that's gifts, [00:18:00] toys, games, like more of the general store feel. It's a really fun shopping experience where so much happens online now when you come in our store, whether it is for a rollator or a puzzle you're gonna find something that's engaging and keeps you interested and excited to come back.

Suzanne: You've certainly done quite a bit. And you have the, U-U-S-P-S or the mailing in your pharmacy as well, which I think is such a convenience. Yeah.

Alex: That used to be, when we moved to this new location in 2004, that was our photo developing counter . I think most of us are aware, no one's developing too much film anymore. So looking for another opportunity, what else can get feet in the door? A post office and whether you do a contract with UPS, FedEx, USPS, we became a postal USPS contract unit which brings a lot of people in. That's another a hundred people a day that are in our store mailing packages.

Suzanne: And then they walk right back through your front end. And there's so many different items that you're like, oh, every time I walk in your pharmacy, I'm like, oh, I gotta get a birthday gift for this person. Or I think last time it was Easter Candy for the kids you're just making it one stop shop, and also growing awareness [00:19:00] of the DME side, so that's great. I know we've gotten to talk about quite a bit. I think I would love to just end out with, what advice do you have for pharmacies who are maybe hesitant to engage? They're interested, they think there's a need, what advice would you have for them? 

Alex: I say start with your drug wholesaler and pick out a few items that you're putting on an end cap. If you do get a little deeper into this and work with vendors in the DME industry, utilize them to the best of their ability. There are some amazing vendors that have so much to offer with educational materials, training your staff.

If you carry their items, they're gonna do all this. Yeah. And we talked about how busy most pharmacists are. If you can have someone else take all that work off your plate training your staff how to fix things, training 'em how to use things, how to fit people for certain items, really utilize the DME vendors.

And then you've got a well-trained staff , just carrying those items from the vendor. 

Suzanne: Yeah, we had an episode I think last month where we talked about the power of partnerships with one of our pharmacy owners in Nebraska, Helen, and I think that she had that same [00:20:00] highlight, reach out to the subject matter experts who you can partner with so you don't have to become an expert in every area. You can connect yourself with those partners that will help really share their expertise and their experience and train up your staff. So I'm hearing empowering your staff, go ahead and start small with some of those end caps and those hot items, and then really leverage partnerships.

And even, reaching out, I think, to other independent pharmacy owners. I love this community of independent owners because we're all spread out and really collaborative. I think really having the opportunity to connect with people in person and just have some of these conversations that are specific, I think people are really excited to share their successes and what pitfalls they've overcome, so I appreciate your time today.

Anything I left off or that you really wanna share for our audience? 

Alex: No, I think I'm in total agreeance with you. You just said a huge proponent of that collaboration. As I mentioned, not being a pharmacist, my pharmacist in charge and I work constantly in contact with other pharmacies, just learning their best practices. And then when I can offer anything on DME or the retail end, I'm [00:21:00] more than happy to teach them. And I think that's the most important part, especially with how tough it is right now for independent pharmacies, is that collaborative effort. Not everything that works in my pharmacy is gonna work in yours.

Suzanne: Yep. 

Alex: And vice versa. But you can always take some nuggets of pretty important information away from any event you go to, any conference, any phone call that you're having with these other pharmacies. So a huge proponent of that collaboration.

Suzanne: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for being here with us today.

So for all of our listeners out there, I'm really thankful for you for tuning into another episode of Independent Insights a Health Mart podcast focused on independent pharmacy.

I'm Suzanne Feeney with McKesson Health Mart signing off. Thank you so much, Alex, for this discussion on DME. We appreciate your time. 

Alex: Thanks Suzanne. 

Subscribe to Independent Insights wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes are released weekly. Together, let's make a lasting impact and shape the future of pharmacy.