More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
Scot Maitland Articles
1. 30 america’s Pharmacist | October 2010 www.americaspharmacist.net
Rooted in
Community
Pharmacy
2. www.americaspharmacist.net October 2010 | america’s Pharmacist 31
As we move into
the second decade
of the 21st century,
a distinctly new wave of independent pharmacy own-
ers seems to be emerging, putting their own spin on
the traditional concept of the neighborhood drug
store. Of course, they aren’t abandoning bedrock
values such as friendly service, efficiency, commitment
to patient care, and a strong community presence. But
instead of having a soda fountain, they might have
Live Oak Pharmacy
grows deep in the
heart of Texas
By Chris Linville
Photography by Justin Wallace
3. an herbal tea bar. And along with marketing through
conventional methods such as newspapers, radio, and
television, they are also engaged in social media such
as Facebook and Twitter.
In Austin, Texas, Scot Maitland and Nathan D.
Pope, PharmD, saw an opportunity to take the best of
old-school pharmacy and give it a modern twist. Austin
is the Texas capital city and the home of the University
of Texas. Its 786,000 residents are an eclectic mix of
university professors, students, politicians, musicians,
state employees, and high-tech, blue-collar, and white-
collar workers. The city also bills itself as the “The Live
Music Capital of the World.” It seemed to be the ideal
environment for Live Oak Pharmacy, which opened in
April 2010.
“Nathan and I had been talking about opening up
a pharmacy for awhile now,” says Maitland, co-owner
and director of communications and education.“He’s
worked in the industry all through college and into his
professional career. My background is in wellness and
nonprofit fundraising, so we kind of wanted to combine
our two passions—helping people and providing service
to people—and create our own pharmacy.
“We realized in downtown Austin there was definite-
ly a lack of independent pharmacies, and our downtown
area was booming, and there was no one to provide
[downtown businesses] with these services.”
And for Live Oak to be successful, it had to first fol-
low one of the cardinal rules for business, Maitland says.
“It’s all about relationships, and cultivating those
relationships,” he says.“We want our pharmacy to be the
kind of place that you associate with a small town phar-
macy. We wanted a place to be comfortable to come visit,
to say hello, to ask a couple of questions, and to catch up
with what’s going on in the neighborhood.”
And as for the pharmacy name? Maitland says that
came fairly easily.
“There’s a lot of live oak [trees] in Austin, and Austin
is really big on supporting independent local business,”
he says.“It just kind of felt natural. We’re rooted in the
community. We’ve gotten a great response from our
name and our logo. A lot of people think we’ve been here
a lot longer than we have. So it’s nice to hear that we feel
familiar already.”
Live Oak’s standing in the community was affirmed
in early September when it was named one of the city’s
best new local businesses in an Austin Chronicle reader
poll. The newspaper has been publishing “Austin’s Best
Of” for the past 21 years.
“Our tying for the win of ‘Best New Local Business’
is really a reflection of the wonderful customers and
patients that we have at Live Oak Pharmacy” says Pope.
“By receiving this honor we’re able to introduce more
Austinites to our integrative approach to health and well-
ness and offer them a choice.”
Sealing the Deal
Maitland and Pope put the ownership wheels in motion
when they attended an NCPA ownership workshop in
Seattle, in August 2009. After listening to the business
and financial experts at the conference, and hearing
stories from others who had recently opened their own
pharmacies, they decided it was time.
“That kind of sealed the deal for us,” Maitland says.
“We realized we were going to move forward and make
this a reality. So we began the process of hiring architects,
consultants, and contractors, and looking into vendors,
and choosing wholesalers, and all of that. The space that
we rent is a mixed use space, so the whole first floor is
retail, and above us are apartments. So all that was up
were the walls, but the walls weren’t even finished. They
were just beams—there was no sheet rock. So we started
completely from scratch.”
Live Oak Pharmacy occupies a 2,200-square-foot
space, with traditional and compounded prescriptions.
It has two rooms for in-house consultations and about
500 square feet of retail. Maitland says Live Oak's goal
is to grow to 90 compounded prescriptions and 350
standard prescriptions per week by the end of its first
year in business. It hopes to reach $100,000 in monthly
sales by the end of its first year. Similar to some other
32 america’s Pharmacist | October 2010 www.americaspharmacist.net
4. 34 america’s Pharmacist | October 2010 www.americaspharmacist.net
newer pharmacies, Maitland says most of the OTC
merchandise is on gondolas that sit in the middle of
the retail area, but they’re mounted on wheels so they
can be rolled out of the way to create extra space. This
arrangement allows the pharmacy to seat 20–25 people
comfortably for presentations.
“You want to take full advantage of that,” Maitland
says.“We try to think about how we can repurpose
just about every single room in the store so we can get
maximum usage out of the square footage, so it isn’t just
sitting there.”
The staff consists of three people—Maitland, Pope,
and Christine Sumer, a certified pharmacy technician.
Along with marketing and communications, Maitland is
also a registered pharmacist technician trainee.
Aesthetically, the pharmacy has what Maitland de-
scribes as a “very modern look. It’s definitely very urban
when you walk into it. We have polished concrete floors,
and all of our shelving is all wood and custom built, so it
has a really organic feel.”
Consultations are a prime focus for Live Oak. Top-
ics range from hormone restoration therapy, adrenal fa-
tigue, and vitamin wellness. On Fridays and Saturdays,
chair massages are available. (Maitland is a licensed
massage therapist.)
“As part of the vitamin wellness consultations, our
customers can also participate in a type of auto-shipment
process for their vitamin supplements so that we can have
them ready every month,” Maitland says.“They can either
be delivered to their home or office via the mail, or we
can have the vitamins ready in a bag so customers can just
come by and pick them up and head out the door.”
Live Oak also does veterinary compounding.“We’re
really focusing right now on building up the veterinary
business. We’re actually a pet-friendly pharmacy, so you
can bring your dog to the store if you like.”
The products in the retail section are carefully se-
lected, Maitland says.
“We wanted to have convenience items, but we didn’t
want to be a convenience store,” he says.“We have 180
apartment units above us, and we try to think about
what they might need on a day-to-day basis. We have a
majority of the stuff that you would see in a traditional
pharmacy but, for example, where there might be four
brands of antacid [somewhere else], we have two. So
we’ve kind of pared it down, not having a lot of options,
because we felt like we picked the best product out there,
as we really vetted it.
“From a vitamin and supplement standpoint, we
only carry two lines of vitamins, and they are profession-
al- grade products. We have a huge selection of homeo-
pathic remedies, as well as herbs. You aren’t going to see
these things in a Walgreens or CVS, either.”
Maitland says that Live Oak seeks customer input on
its product mix.
“We are real big into asking for feedback, and find-
ing out what kinds of products they like to see on the
shelves, because it’s their store,” he says.“We’re also
working with other health care providers to see what
kinds of products they recommend to their patients that
they don’t carry, but we can have for them. We’re looking
to do a partnership with a nutritionist, so we can offer
nutrition consultations in the store.”
As with any business located in a busy downtown
area, Maitland says that he and Pope designed Live Oak
Pharmacy to make it as accessible as possible.
“The store was customized and designed for a very
urban population,” Maitland says.“We have access to
more than 100 parking spots behind our store that are
all covered. We have two doors, so you can enter from
the street or from behind the garage. We did it that way
so that it’s easy to come in and come out. We lost some
Pictured are (front): Marilyn Maitland (left) and Charmaine Pope.
Back row (from left) are Scot Maitland, Nathan D. Pope,
and David Pope.
Continued on page 38 ➥
5. 36 america’s Pharmacist | October 2010 www.americaspharmacist.net
When Scot Maitland and Nathan Pope, PharmD, were prepar-
ing to open Live Oak Pharmacy in Austin, Texas, one of their
primary business objectives was to become an engaged com-
munity citizen. When they heard about NCPA’s Prescription Dis-
posal Program, it seemed to be a case of perfect timing, as they
were already planning their own takeback program based on
several successful ventures they had heard about in California.
“It was something that we knew about and did build it into the
pharmacy when we started creating it, and knew that this was
going to be a core part of our business,” Maitland says. “We just
felt like it was the right thing to do, and definitely felt like it was
another opportunity to create a relationship with our community.”
The Prescription Disposal Program that NCPA launched in
2009 provided members with the tools to successfully design
and market medication return programs, provided informa-
tion about board of pharmacy regulations, and reinforced
Drug Enforcement Administration and other restrictions on the
return and transport of controlled substances without the direct
involvement of law enforcement.
In early 2010, NCPA took another step to bolster these
efforts through a partnership with Sharps Compliance Corp.,
based in Houston. NCPA members became eligible for dis-
counted services for the Sharps TakeAway Environmental Return
System. Members can receive a discount of almost 20 percent
plus free shipping on the Sharps system. More information is
available in the “Prescription Disposal Program” section of the
NCPA website (www.ncpanet.org).
“It was great to see that NCPA was able to work with Sharps
to offer a discount to jump into the program,” says Maitland,
Live Oak’s co-owner and director of communications and
education. “And being a small business owner, it’s definitely
nice when you can save money any way you
can. It was fantastic for us to be able to take
advantage of our NCPA membership to get a
discount.”
Live Oak’s medication takeback procedure
is explained on its website (www.liveoakrx.com).
Customers can download a medicine disposal
form at home and fill it in before they come in,
or they can fill out forms at the pharmacy. They
fill out what it the medication is, where they
acquired it, how much is left (approximately) in
the container, and what size container it is.
“After that, Nathan meets with customers and double checks
to be sure that there are no controlled substances in there,”
Maitland says. “Again, it’s about developing that relationship
and chatting with people.”
The next step is to put the medications into a bag to be
mailed back to Sharps. Live Oak also keeps track of how much
weight they have collected. To date it is 250 pounds.
“That’s kind of exciting because there’s 250 pounds of medi-
cation that is not ending up in our water supply or in the landfill,”
Maitland says. “We’ll keep that tally going so we can encourage
people to really be involved in this. We’ve got a great response
from our local media. We had two interviews on the news. KUT
[the local NPR station operated by the University of Texas] came
out to talk about it. At a block party [during Earth Day], KUT
asked us to bring out the forms and tell people about it, because
they want everyone in the neighborhood to know about it.”
To protect patient confidentiality, Live Oak uses black sharp-
ies to cover the labels. Maitland says that there are only a few
things they don’t take back, controlled substances being the
primary item. (They hope to eventually partner with local law
enforcement to allow that at some point.)
“We also don’t take back personal care products [such as
deodorants], but nobody’s tried to bring them in anyway,” he
says. “I’ve seen half-empty tubes of athlete’s foot cream, and
triple antibiotic cream.”
Maitland says the returns are about 75 percent prescription,
and 75 percent OTC. With sharps items [such as needles], if
customers buy the sharps container from Live Oak, they take it
back for free. If they bring it in a different container from some-
where else, Live Oak charges $5 per container. “That’s the only
thing we charge for,” he says.
With only three full-time employees (Maitland, Pope and a
technician), the process of facilitating returns could potentially
be overwhelming. But so far, Maitland says, it hasn’t been a
problem.
“In terms of the extra labor to talk to patients, I don’t even
think of it as burdensome to our bottom line,” he says. “A lot
of times people just come in to get what they want, and then
they leave. But there’s an opportunity while they are filling out
the forms to engage with them in some conversation. It might
be to thank them for coming in, or finding out
how they learned out about the program. That’s
kind of been good for us also, because we
didn’t pay for any advertising for the program,
but we did get a lot of exposure, and we put
it on Facebook and Twitter, and we found out
that KUT is where a lot of people heard about
it. Now that I know that, it’s making me rethink
radio as an opportunity for advertising, which
is extremely valuable information. So that in of
itself was a golden nugget for us.”
Maitland says the response in the community has been over-
whelmingly positive, and fulfilling for the staff.
“We actually had a woman come in from the next town over
who had syringes that she wanted to turn in,” he says. “She had
had them for about four years because she didn’t know what to
do with them. She was so relieved that there was a place where
she could take them. So it kind of justified for us that we made
the right decision. And it would be my hope for every indepen-
dent pharmacy in Austin to join us in doing this.”
—cl
Live Oak Embraces NCPA Prescription Disposal Program
6. 38 america’s Pharmacist | October 2010 www.americaspharmacist.net
retail space because of the way the store was designed,
but we wanted it to be usable for the people who visit.”
Educational Focus
Education for pharmacy and technician students is a
point of emphasis at Live Oak Pharmacy. The phar-
macy has a connection with the nearby University of
Texas College of Pharmacy, as Pope is a clinical assis-
tant professor.
“It’s very rewarding and fulfilling,” Pope says.“I
wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. The stu-
dents bring a certain energy and excitement to daily
activities at the pharmacy. I feel I have a responsibility
as a pharmacist and pharmacy owner to educate future
pharmacists so they know that independent ownership
is achievable and that you can push the threshold of
pharmacy services."
Live Oak is already planning to start a community
pharmacy residency program in 2011.
“Having a resident adds a level of professionalism
and responsibility as a pharmacist/owner,” Pope says.
“We are able to take our research to the next level and
increase our partnership with the University of Texas. As
long as you don't consider a resident as ‘cheap labor’ and
have enough clinical services at your pharmacy, it can be
very beneficial from a business standpoint."
Old Media/New Media
Putting his marketing experience to good use, Maitland
says that Live Oak has embraced both traditional and new
media to help market the pharmacy, its services, and spe-
cial occasions. Not long after Live Oak opened, Maitland
wanted to create awareness of the new pharmacy and
its offerings, in particular its drug disposal program. He
decided that Earth Day would be an ideal tie in to try and
secure coverage.
“For Earth Day, I sent out a press release via e-mail
to all of the [TV] stations, and followed up with a phone
call,” Maitland says.“And I followed up with phone calls
again. With radio, I sent them a press release and they
contacted us, which was great. That kind of motivated
me to start calling more people. I contacted the Austin
American-Statesman [newspaper], and some bloggers
as well, and other bloggers found out about it through
our Facebook page. So it was mostly [about 90 percent]
driven from us sending our press releases and following
up. Following up is the key, and explaining what it was
all about. And of course being Earth Day, it helped gar-
ner additional interest. That Thursday evening, we got
calls from two news stations that were coming over with
cameras to shoot Nathan talking about the program.
Again, we couldn’t afford that kind of advertising right
now as a startup.”
To date, Maitland says that Live Oak has 626 fans on
Facebook and 419 on Twitter.
“We’re kind of marrying the old and the new,”
he says.“The great thing is getting on other people’s
websites, the different social media sites, and reposting
that info again and again to hit another audience and let
them know. It helps.”
As with any large endeavor—and opening a phar-
macy certainly qualifies—there were some bumps on
the road.
“There were some things we didn’t expect,” Mai-
tland says. “There were items we had to pay for that
we hadn’t even thought of. Simple things—we hadn’t
thought of signage for our store, and it was like, ‘Who’s
doing the signs?’ I hadn’t thought about that. ‘How
much is that going to cost?’ It’s another line item on
the budget that wasn’t there before. But we weren’t
deterred. Nathan and I are hard workers. We figured we
might as well work hard for ourselves, and be able to
reap the benefits of it.”
And the reality of owning a pharmacy has begun to
sink in.
“I have an opportunity to drop by the store in the
evening, and we have this really great green neon sign,
kind of a throwback to the old pharmacies,” he says.
“And you know you made the right decision when you
drive by the store at night and you see that green neon
glowing and it’s like,‘That’s ours, we made that. That’s
our store, and good things happen there.’
“I think that’s what’s exciting about pharmacy in
the future—it has an opportunity to become what it
used to be. It’s about getting involved in the community
and making those relationships and changing the way
we do business.”
Chris Linville is managing editor of America’s Pharmacist.
Continued from page 34 ➥
7. DOWN TO BUSINESS
CUSTOMERS’ HOPES
The
Find us on Facebook and Twitter
Published by the
National Community
Pharmacists Association
JULY 2011
T H E V O I C E O F T H E C O M M U N I T Y P H A R M A C I S T
PHARMACIST
america’s
www.americaspharmacist.net
ADHERENCE, PART II
E-CONNECTING
THE WINNING PLAN
8. 20 america’s Pharmacist | July 2011 www.americaspharmacist.net
June 25
To view more photos of Live Oak Pharmacy, go to our
Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/LiveOakRx
9. Facebook offers
independent pharmacies
another avenue to
connect with their
communities
By Scot Maitland
www.americaspharmacist.net July 2011 | america’s Pharmacist 21
irst of all, let me start off by saying that I
am not a pharmacist. I am a communicator,
an independent pharmacy owner, and a
staunch supporter of pharmacists and the knowledge
that they have. With that support I believe that
community pharmacy and social media go hand in
hand. Social media at its core is community building. As
pharmacists, social media gives you the opportunity to
build strong relationships with patients and customers
as well as with allied health care professionals. It also
provides you with a voice and allows you to become
a curator of the Web by managing and organizing
information to share with your community.
10. 22 america’s Pharmacist | July 2011 www.americaspharmacist.net
Starting a Facebook
business page is easy.
There are ample
resources online to help you get started. This
article focuses on the content management and how to
engage your audience to get maximum bang for your
buck with 12 ways to keep your audience engaged.
A key point is to follow the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent
of your posts should be focused on your patients, your
customers, your community, and your allied health care
practitioners. Twenty percent should be focused on
your pharmacy. In the 2010 Gallup Poll, 71 percent of
Americans said that pharmacists have “very high” ethical
standards or are “very” honest. That needs to translate
from your store to your Facebook page. There is an “I” in
community but the key to success is remembering the “U”!
Tip Number 1 KISS
Keep it Simple Silly. As health care professionals we have
so much information to share that it is easy to get carried
away. Fortunately, Facebook helps keep you on task. Posts
can only contain 420 characters (not words, characters).
Remember, the point of social media is to create dialogue
and community. Give just enough information to
encourage questions and a visit to the pharmacy. As a
point of reference, this tip is roughly 460 characters.
Tip Number 2 Post Upcoming Events
Are you hosting a seminar on diabetes? Or perhaps
an open house to launch a new product that your
pharmacy is selling? Post
it on your Facebook page.
Don’t be afraid to utilize
the event tab to create an
event page. This is also
a great opportunity to
post community events as well. Share news about the
upcoming walk for breast cancer or a free concert in the
park. Make your’s the go-to page for what is happening
in your community.
Tip Number 3 Be a Resource
We already know that pharmacists are one of the most
trusted professionals, so be that trusted resource. Share
news articles on topics of health and wellness. Explain
programs in your pharmacy, such as medication take
back, and why it is important to participate. Let your
patients know that you are available to listen to them
when they come to your pharmacy. Often times, patients
may think that you are too busy to talk to them. Utilize
social media to remind them that they are the reason
that your pharmacy is open and that you personally
welcome their questions and their business.
Tip Number 4 Tell Stories
Everyone loves a good story. In 1921, Earle Dickson, an
employee of Johnson & Johnson, created the Band-Aid.
His wife, Josephine, frequently cut and burned herself in
the kitchen and gauze and adhesive tape was not doing the
trick. Earle placed some gauze in the center of a piece of
tape and the rest is history! There are so many great stories
in the history of pharmacy, along with new stories to tell.
Tip Number 5 Add Video Content
Technology has given all of us the power to be the next
Martin Scorsese. Well maybe not, but every smart phone
on the market has video capability and flip video cameras
are now priced under $100. You could tell nervous first
time parents how to use a nebulizer on their children. But
what if you showed them through the power of video? And
what if after they left your pharmacy they could go online
and watch it again? Video can also be used to introduce a
new team member on your staff or just to reacquaint some
of your long time team members with your customers.
Tip Number 6 Add Photos and Encourage Photos
A picture says a thousand words and as you remember
from Tip 1, Facebook only allows you 420 characters
per post. So use pictures to tell the story. Have a new
product? Post a picture. Did your employees participate
in a community event? Post a picture. Consider creating
11. www.americaspharmacist.net July 2011 | america’s Pharmacist 23
a photo submission policy and encourage your followers
to post pictures too. Encouraging photos is a way for
people to connect with your pharmacy.
Tip Number 7 Ask Questions
Everyone has an opinion and everyone loves to share
it. Ask your followers to share them. In the most recent
Facebook update, polls were introduced. Polls engage
your audience and give you great feedback as well.
Everyone is going to need sunscreen this summer. Are
you carrying the brands your customers want? Ask them.
Want to make your customers feel special? Ask if any are
planning a wedding, a special anniversary or a big trip.
You’ll find out who is and make them feel special.
Tip Number 8 Respond to Posts
Imagine going to a party and someone engages you
in conversation; you make eye contact while they are
talking to you and then you walk away without saying
anything back. Not good, right? Be sure and respond
to your posts. While it is recommended to respond in a
timely fashion, that is not always possible. So here is a
tip within a tip: if you post something that you believe
will generate responses, include the following: “If you
have questions about xyz, come into the pharmacy or
call us at 123–4567 and we’ll be happy to answer your
questions.” And when you do address comments, use
their name in your response. The most important word
to a customer is that person's name.
Tip Number 9 Keep the Tone Conversational
You may have noticed that in the previous example I
used the contraction “we’ll.” Keep the tone of your posts
conversational. Use contractions and make it informal.
You want to reach the largest population possible and
you want to come across as friendly, yet professional.
Tip Number 10 Network With Other Businesses
Pharmacies are not the only ones getting into
social media. Physicians and hospitals are spending
increasingly more time on social media; just Google
Mayo Clinic and see all the interesting things they are
doing, from YouTube to Twitter. Connecting with other
health care providers on social media is a great way
to introduce your pharmacy to your fellow heath care
providers. This is also a terrific opportunity to partner
with businesses that have similar clientele. Connect with
the gym up the street, the health food store nearby, or
perhaps the salon around the corner.
Tip Number 11 Post During High-Traffic Times
Sure, it might be easy to update your Facebook page
at 10 p.m., but unless you are posting about insomnia
it probably is not reaching your intended audience.
Thirty-five percent of smartphone users check apps
such as Facebook before they even get out of bed!
When are your customers using social media? It is a
safe bet to post the majority of your content between 9
a.m. and 2 p.m.
Live Oak publicizes its support of the University of Texas NCPA student chapter through social networking.
12. Tip Number 12 Have Fun
It is pretty easy to see that by incorporating the 11 other
tips that there is no way you can’t have fun engaging
with your customers on social media. Pharmacy and
health care is serious stuff. But connecting with your
patients and community and making them feel special
does not have to be.
If pharmacists take the time to connect with their
communities and create content, share fact-based
research along with their opinions, and ask questions
online, then they will grow their practice and reinforce
their image as health care providers. If all NCPA
members participated in social media, we would
dominate search results and establish independent
community pharmacy as the pharmacy to choose for
health and wellness.
Scot Maitland is the co-owner and director of communications
at Live Oak Pharmacy, Austin, Texas, as well as the founder of
Tacit Almonds, a health care communications company. He is
also the recipient of the Texas Social Media Award and speaks
professionally on the subject of communications and social media
for NCPA, PCCA, and IACP. To learn more visit: http://facebook.
com/TacitAlmonds and http://Twitter.com/TacitAlmonds.
Community involvement can be promoted through Facebook.
13. canada
SEPTEMBER2011
THE SELF-CARE, BUSINESS & RETAIL RESOURCE FOR THE PHARMACY INDUSTRY
VISIT US ONLINE @
CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca
LEFT BRAIN meets
RIGHT BRAINScot Maitland and Nathan Pope’s Live Oak Pharmacy is a perfect
mix of marketing smarts and superlative patient care
Publications mail agreement number 40070230. Canada Post: please return undeliverable address blocks to Rogers Media, One Mount Pleasant Road,Toronto, ON M4Y 2Y5
+REPORT
FROM SPRING ABCS OF
OTCS EDUCATION DAY
NEW
COLUMN!
MARKETING
BASICS FOR
PHARMACISTS
HOW TO
MAKE
MORE TIME
FOR THE
IMPORTANT
STUFF
THE DIABETES/NUTRITION
CONNECTION
14. 14 CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca September 2011 Drugstore Canada 15
by Anne Bokma
PHOTOSJustinWallacePhotography
S
ometimes two heads really are better than one. In the case of Live
OakPharmacyinAustin,Texas,twoco-ownerswithuniquelydiverse
talents and distinct business backgrounds are shaking up the world
of independent pharmacy by combining state-of-the-art marketing
savvy with an innovative range of specialized pharmacy services.
Both in their 30s, this dynamic pair is taking the pharmacy world by storm.
After just 18 months in business,Live Oak,which expects to hit $1.2 million in
sales this year and is entertaining the notion of franchising in Texas and beyond,
has been named one of Austin’s best new businesses,gained more than 1,000 fol-
lowers on both Facebook and Twitter and garnered a six-page magazine spread
in America’s Pharmacist magazine, which hails Live Oak as part of a “distinctly
new wave of independent pharmacy owners.”
In one corner is pharmacist Nathan Pope, a graduate of the pharmacy school
at New Jersey’s Rutgers University, who has spent a dozen years working for
both a massive U.S. retail chain (Walgreens) and a smaller progressive chain
(Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy based in Colorado), which was the first in the
nation to execute the concept of integrative pharmacy by combining traditional
pharmacy services with holistic remedies. A clinical assistant professor in the
School of Pharmacy at the University ofTexas,Pope has continued his education
at the Professional Compounding Center of America, where he was trained in
prescription compounding.
In the other corner is marketing whiz Scot Maitland,a graduate of the Univer-
sity of North Texas,who has broad experience in fundraising and event manage-
ment and has helped raise millions of dollars for AIDS/HIV and breast cancer
charities.A social media expert who understands how technology can transform
the way pharmacists connect with their patients and a communications pro who
has developed innovative methods of reaching out to physicians,Maitland is also
a registered pharmacist technician trainee.
North America’s hippest
drugstore mixes personalized
care, an on-trend health focus
and social media buzz to
create best-in-class ‘local’
pharmacy in the big city.
LIVE OAK
PHARMACY:
Profile
Innovator
LEFT BRAIN MEETS RIGHT BRAIN
15. 16 CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca
Cover
Story
Together the two have tackled the key challenge
faced by legions of pharmacy owners—marrying
good clinical practitioner skills with business and
marketing savvy. Pope and Maitland have helped
Live Oak succeed by each sticking with what they
do best.“Together,we have the perfect right brain/
left brain chemistry,”says Maitland.“My approach
is a focus on communications and having the right
aesthetic in the store that makes people feel good
when they walk in the door. Nathan’s approach
is to be a phenomenal pharmacist who develops
great relationships with patients.”
Perhaps part of the reason the two complement
each other so well as business partners is because
they were once also partners in their personal lives.
They broke up a few months after opening their
pharmacy in April 2010 and it’s a testament to the
strength of their friendship that they managed to
maintain their business relationship without so
much as a blip. “We had a strong foundation to-
gether and we continue to have the utmost respect
for what the other one brings to the table,” says
Maitland. Being two openly gay men running a
pharmacy puts them in a rare group within the
relatively conservative profession of pharmacy, but
Maitland says it’s a non-issue for customers.“Aus-
tin is a very liberal town and neither of us has ever
felt the need to hide our sexual orientation—but
it doesn’t exactly come up in conversation either.”
The pharmacy is a supporter of the local AIDS
walk and also sponsors the city’s gay and lesbian
film festival.After the American Medical Associa-
tion adopted a new policy this past June in support
of gay marriage, Maitland wrote to the American
Pharmacy Association asking it to do the same as
a means of addressing healthcare disparities that
gay couples face.
TIME FOR A NEW KIND OF PHARMACY
Explosive residential growth in downtown Austin,
the capital city of Texas, combined with a short-
age of pharmacies in the area,convinced Pope and
Maitland that the timing was right for a new kind
of pharmacy. The CVS pharmacy in the down-
town core had limited store hours and didn’t offer
compounding services.They wanted to cater to the
city’s affluent,active and artistic mix of young fam-
ilies, working professionals and engaged retirees.
“We decided to focus on health and wellness rather
than illness—we’re all about preventive care,” says
Maitland. They rented a new 2,200 sq. ft. mixed-
use space in a retail plaza with 180 apartments
above and located just up the street from a Whole
Foods. The pharmacy features a complimentary
herbal tea bar with café tables and chairs as well
as two private consultation rooms. In the 500 sq.
ft.frontshop space,most of the OTC merchandise
sits on gondolas mounted on wheels so they can
be rolled away to create presentation space for 25.
“The gondolas are about four feet high so you can
see across the entire store no matter where you are
and this helps give the pharmacy a warm, friendly
feeling,”says Maitland.The frontshop is heavy on
vitamins,supplements,homeopathic remedies and
herbal products. The pharmacy carries three lines
ofvitamins(Metagenics,PhysioLogicsandThorne
Research) and two lines of homeopathy products
(Boiron and Heel). “These are high-quality prod-
ucts that aren’t available in chains,”says Maitland.
“In some pharmacies you might have 15 choices
TOP, Clockwise: Pharmacist Nathan Pope;
Live Oak Pharmacy in downtown Austin;
pharmacy event with customers; Scot
Maitland Tweets marketing messages.
“We decided to
focus on health and
wellness rather than
illness—we're all about
PREVENTIVE CARE.”
16. 18 CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca
for vitamin C.Our philosophy was to narrow the selection and carry
the top three.”
Prescription sales are divided 50-50 between traditional medica-
tions and compounded preparations, but Maitland expects com-
pounded products to grow to 75-80% of the Rx side. These prod-
ucts include the typical mix of HRT, pediatric, dermatological, pain,
dental and pet care preparations, but the pharmacy has also been
doing a lot of compounding for about a dozen medical spas, which
provide services such as Botox, fillers, photo facials and laser hair
removal.One of the pharmacy’s most popular compounded products
for these spas is hCG hormone preparations for weight loss. Others
are blemish control remedies, skin lighteners for age spots and topi-
cal aesthetics used for pre and post laser procedures. “For years the
most progressive pharmacies have gone after the health and wellness
business,but they are ignoring the potential of anti-aging products,”
says Maitland, who adds that cosmeceuticals are another potential
area of growth for Live Oak. “We want to work with physicians to
help them create their own lines of specialty products.”
SMART MESSAGING TO DOCS
The pharmacy has had a lot of success in connecting with area physi-
cians and veterinarians to let them know about the new pharmacy in
town.Maitland and Susan Chichester,an MBA and Live Oak’s op-
erations lead, have been aggressive in their efforts to visit and detail
physicians. “We’ve spoken with more than 500 physicians and vets
and there are days when I will hit 13 doctors’offices,”says Maitland.
“I’m not a fan of cold-calling, but sometimes you have to do it—it’s
all about relationship building.”They look for any opportunity they
can to connect with physicians—for example, if a local doctor wins
an award, they send a handwritten note. And they aren’t afraid to
ask receptive physicians for referrals to their colleagues in medicine.
Maitland also sends out a regular online newsletter to physicians
called Marketing Rx that keeps them informed about issues that af-
fect their practice, invites prescribers to co-host health information
events in the pharmacy, alerts them to local events of interest and
makes special offers (a recent promotion involved giving physicians
a $15 store coupon to pass on to patients who bring in a new pre-
scription or transfer an existing one). The newsletter’s tagline is: At
Live Oak Pharmacy we’re not just committed to the health of your
patients,we’re committed to the health of your business.“It’s proven
to be a great outreach with physicians,”says Maitland.
Another effective outreach initiative has been the pharmacy’s ea-
gerness to embrace social media as a way to build relationships with
customers, patients and allied health professionals. Maitland, the re-
cipient of the Texas Social Media Award who speaks on the topic of
social media for the National Community Pharmacists Association,
stays in the loop with an extensive base of followers on both Face-
book and Twitter by posting news about presentations at the phar-
macy (for example,a recent “Q & A Yappy Hour”featured local vets
answering dog owners’ questions), new pharmacy products, health
and wellness articles, community events and video content such as
a Live Oak ad campaign featuring local Austinites talking about
why they love the pharmacy. He says pharmacists need to grab hold
of the opportunities social media presents to connect with custom-
ers. “There are plenty of ways to connect—for example, a pharmacy
could create video content showing nervous first-time parents how
to use a nebulizer on their child and post that on YouTube with a
link on their Facebook page.”Content is posted daily on Live Oak’s
Facebook page and feeds are updated multiple times a day.Maitland
spends one day a month planning all the content and looks for ways
to engage followers while also tying the content to the pharmacy’s of-
ferings.“For example,we have a national awareness day for cirrhosis,
so on that day I would post information on that condition and at the
same time include information on a relevant product we carry.” He
uses a Twitter program that automatically updates feeds at all hours
of the day and night—that way a feed promoting a homeopathic
teething remedy can be posted at 2 a.m.when it’s most likely to catch
the attention of sleep-deprived parents. Maitland says it’s important
to remember the 80-20 rule when posting content—80% should be
focused on what is of most interest to patients and 20% on promoting
the pharmacy.“Remember,it’s all about engaging your followers.”
Marketing to physicians, using social media to connect with cus-
tomers, sponsoring community events and hosting in-store presen-
tations—it’s all part of Live Oak’s plan to be a vital part of the Austin
community.“We are always looking for opportunities to be out there
in the public eye—to be meeting people, shaking hands and letting
them know we are here for them,”says Maitland.“It’s not a field of
dreams—you can’t build something like this and just hope people
will come.You have to get them to come.”
ANNE BOKMA IS A HAMILTON-BASED WRITER AND FORMER EDITOR OF
PHARMACY PRACTICE.
Live Oak uses its Twitter feed both to help keep
CUSTOMERS INFORMED ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES and to
market its pharmacy services, such as flu shot clinics.
The Live Oak Facebook page acts like a small-town
meeting house in which the pharmacy staff can SHARE
INFORMATION WITH CUSTOMERS and co-promote local
health and wellness professionals.
Profile
Innovator
Read Scot Maitland’s American Pharmacist article on how to use
social networking on CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca/pharmacists.
Go to the Manage your pharmacy section of the home page.
17. 20 | FEATURES | Community Impact Newspaper • Central Austin Edition
C
afe tables, a tea bar and an absence of
white coats give Live Oak Pharmacy
anything but a pharmaceutical vibe,
but that is how owners Scot Maitland and
Nathan Pope like it.
“We believe in a body-mind connection,
and we want people to feel better by walk-
ing in the door,” said Maitland, the store’s
director of communications. “People have
a good time when they’re here.”
Maitland and Pope, who is director of
the pharmacy, opened the pharmacy in
April 2010 in the Fifth Street Commons.
Free covered parking for customers is one
of their perks, as is a curbside concierge.
Pope can run to a customer’s vehicle with
an iPad to answer questions about medi-
cations. The shop also makes free deliver-
ies for downtown residents and creates
medications for pets.
Pope and Maitland, both New Jersey
natives, bring different backgrounds to
Live Oak. Pope’s father is a pharmacist
and Pope has also worked for several
pharmacies, learning innovative ways
for treating patients, such as the use of
supplements and compounding, services
that create drugs tailored to a patient.
Maitland’s family moved to Texas when
he was 16 years old. He then spent a few
years in Chicago and New York City
working for a company that raised money
for people living with HIV or breast
cancer. He then moved to San Francisco
where he worked as a licensed massage
therapist and for PG&E in internal
communications.
“Communication is my passion, and [so
is] helping Nathan get the message out to
people about what a pharmacist can do,”
Maitland said.
The pharmacy’s goal is to create a
Owners Scot Maitland (left) and Nathan Pope say customer service is their top priority at Live Oak Pharmacy.
unique patient experience and provide
customers with a more personalized
health plan.
“I know what [the customers] want and
what they need,” Pope said.
Downtown Austin resident Jude Galli-
gan first heard about Live Oak Pharmacy
when it sponsored an event at the Down-
town Austin Neighborhood Association
where Galligan is on the board. He gave
the shop a try, and by his second visit, he
said Pope knew his name.
“They offer a service that is much
greater, a better ser-
vice that walking in
to a CVS,” he said.
“They bother getting
to know you.”
Galligan said he
also appreciates that
Pope and Maitland
take time to be pro-
active in engaging
with the commu-
nity. Maitland said
social media played
a large part in pro-
moting the pharmacy before it opened.
“Ironically, when we opened up, people
asked us, ‘Where’s your first location?’
because they kept hearing about us,”
Maitland said, adding that he and Pope
always use their Twitter and Facebook
pages to announce special store events.
By Amy Deis
Live Oak Pharmacy
Community store deals out a dose of comfort
BUSINESS
“They offer a
service that is
much greater, a
better service that
walking into a
CVS. They bother
getting to know
you.”
—Jude Galligan,
downtown resident
AmyDeis
Live Oak Pharmacy
1611 W. Fifth St.,
Ste. 160
476-8979
www.liveoakrx.com
Twitter: @LiveOakRx
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