Nickman’s adds robotic pharmacy system, beers sales
Human hands never touch the pills and the family dog has a business named after him. Combining the two results in an $800,000 expansion at a family-owned series of businesses.
Nickman’s Drug, which James W. Nickman Sr. founded in 1975, has grown over the past three decades to include construction, excavating and real estate development companies.
This weekend, the company held the grand opening for its latest venture, “Buddy’s Brews,’ named after Buddy, the family’s yellow Lab.
Two years ago, the company also spent about $200,000 installing a new, computerized robotic pharmacy system to improve efficiency and give Nickman’s pharmacists more time to spend with customers.
The robot counts, labels and sorts our top 250 drugs. “As far as I know, we are the only pharmacy in the county that utilizes this type of pharmacy automation,’ James W. Nickman Jr. said.
“The burden on pharmacies has increased exponentially over time because of increased prescription volume, managed-care constraints and lower reimbursement. We invested in the robot to provide our patients with the highest level of accuracy and safety. Wait times for prescriptions have decreased dramatically. The robot also frees up our staff to have more personal contact with our customers,’ he added.
“My father started out in a 3,000-square-foot store in Nickman’s Plaza. Today, our store is 14,000 square-feet with another 12,000 square-feet of warehouse space. The pharmacy industry has undergone significant changes since my dad started his business. I have only been out of school for eight years and the changes in that time are hard to describe,’ Nickman said.
He explained they installed the robotic system in he pharmacy about two years ago, buying it from a company new to the field, Parata Systems. “We flew to North Carolina to see one installed. We liked the technology of this company, but it didn’t have a track record. There has to be some thought that something like this eliminated jobs but it didn’t. What it does is gives our pharmacists more time to spend with the customers. We did this to grow the business,’ Nickman said.
Nickman’s loaded 250 of the most requested drugs into the system to streamline the operation. The pharmacy carries 1,752 drugs total and can special order anything that customers may need.
“They told us that this system would fill about 50 percent of the prescriptions we sell every day, but it’s been more like 60 to 65 percent,’ Nickman said.
Since the hoppers containing the drugs are closed and are refilled from bottles, no one has to touch the drugs. Pharmacists key into a computer what they need and the machine automatically counts, bottles, labels and places in an alphabetized bin the prescription. The machine has a fail-safe system, so bottles that don’t contain the correct number of pills are set aside. “If the machine doesn’t count something right, it tells you,’ Nickman said.
“You have to have the volume in order to justify the expense. I also feel that if a customer has to wait more than 10 minutes to get a prescription filled, we are testing the customer’s patience.
In opening the beer distributorship, Nickman said he didn’t plan on “making a lot of money.
“This is a very competitive business and the laws in Pennsylvania governing it are very arcane,’ he said.
However, what appealed to him was its simplicity.
“I find it frustrating at times because this (Nickman’s Drug and related companies) is a very big business. We deal with 50 vendors on a regular basis and about 150 altogether. But the beer business is so streamlined we deal with only six vendors to offer 350 beers. The process of ordering product is not as involved. It takes about five minutes a day,’ he said. “Personally, I’m not a beer drinker. But my brother, Jacob, is something of a beer connoisseur. This also gave us the opportunity to renovate the back of the plaza.’
“We spent over $600,000 renovating and putting an addition on Nickman’s Plaza where the distributor is located. The distributor is called Buddy’s Brews, named after the family dog, Buddy, a yellow lab,’ Nickman said.
“Buddy was a stray that my brother found about five years ago. He had tar all over him, was starving, and only weighed 65 pounds. We brought him into our house, he became a part of our family, and has changed our lives more than I can describe. He weighs 100 pounds now and he has a business named after him. This business will have a lot of community involvement with charitable animal organizations,’ he said. As part of the grand opening this weekend, the Fayette County SPCA was on-site with some of their animals with the goal of finding them good homes, Nickman said.
“Our store provides a unique shopping environment. We have 16 cooler doors where our customers have self-service access to cold beer. Our store provides our customers with the same convenience they expect from other shopping environments such as the grocery store, gas stations or drug stores. The retail beer industry is slowly changing in Pennsylvania and Buddy’s Brews shows the type of improvements that customers will begin to demand,’ he added.
Nickman added that patrons are invited to send in photos of their own pet dog to be placed in the store. More than a half-dozen such photos line the wall above the check out counter, including several pictures of Buddy.
Overall, Nickman’s Plaza houses about 18 commercial tenants as well as the family’s businesses, Nickman said.
Located along old Connellsville Road in Lemont Furnace, Nickman’s represents the efforts of two families: James Nickman Sr. and his brother, Elias Nickman Sr.
James Sr. and James Jr. operate the drug store, beer distributorship, excavating, construction and real estate businesses, and Elias Nickman Sr. and his son, Elias Jr., operate the home and garden store. Also involved is Marian Pitman, sister to James and Elias Sr. as well as other family members.
Combined, the Nickman’s have about 55,000 to 60,000- square-feet of retail and office space at the plaza. The Nickman businesses employ about 45 people. Several new workers were added at Buddy’s Brews and Nickman said more would be hired for summer.