Rogers Pharmacy owner Melvin Rogers opened the business in 1967. The pharmacy now has locations in Tarkio, Mound City, Maryville, and St. Joseph, Missouri.

It’s been 50 years since Melvin Rogers and his wife, Karen, opened Rogers Pharmacy in Fairfax. What began as a small, hometown business has grown into a conglomerate of well-known and well-respected pharmacies in northwest Missouri. Rogers Pharmacy has become the place to go to fill prescriptions and receive specialized care covering a wide range of health services. The customer base has grown exponentially over the years, not only due to expansion, but also because of Rogers Pharmacy’s “faith, family, and friends” motto, attention to detail, and devotion and care to its clients.
It all started in 1967 when Melvin and Karen opened their first pharmacy. Besides the couple, and Karen’s mother, only one other person was employed. In the late 70’s, Rogers Pharmacy expanded to Tarkio, where it still remains a well-liked pharmacy today. In the 80’s, Rogers Pharmacy continued to expand, this time in Mound City, Missouri, which is now the corporate headquarters. Rogers Pharmacy also opened a location in Oregon, Missouri, but like Fairfax, it was eventually closed in a time of consolidation. In the 90’s, Rogers Pharmacy expanded to St. Joseph, Missouri. With two locations, one providing services for long-term care for nursing homes, group homes, and specialty patients, around 300 prescriptions are filled in St. Joseph per day, bringing the professional, family care to the city. Last year, Rogers Pharmacy opened in Maryville, Missouri, as well, bringing the total number of Rogers Pharmacy employees to 100.
Rogers Pharmacy has transformed over the years. What started out as a business that not only filled prescriptions, but also sold items such as snow shovels and balloons, has grown into a business focused soley on providing professional healthcare services. Besides its highly qualified and skilled pharmacists and techs, Rogers Pharmacy also employs professional diabetic shoe fitters and mastectomy fitters, as well as other enhanced service providers who all cater to the customers. The employees are truly devoted to helping their clients. There’s no other business like Rogers Pharmacy in the state.
Rogers Pharmacy not only focuses on the clients, but also hiring and training employees to be the best at what they do. From the pharmacist who fills the prescription to the person who hands it over to the customer, all are equally as important. Each employee is trained and tested by regulators often and Melvin Rogers spoke very highly of all under his employ. He said he’s been very lucky in finding extremely smart and highly qualified individuals to work in his pharmacies. Some have even started their first jobs at a Rogers Pharmacy location, only to return many years later as it was such a loved place of work. Rogers Pharmacy has also helped with educational funding for the young pharmacists who have come to work for them. Rogers Pharmacy also sends its pharmacists and techs to National Pharmacy Training to become master compounders.
The business is a profession of dispensers and administrators of health care services. The pharmacy provides diabetic shoes, oxygen respiration supplies, other medical equipment, and rentals. The pharmacy also provides vaccinations and immunizations at all of its facilities, as well as sends traveling teams to contracted corporations and businesses to provide these shots and to dispense medications.
Melvin has seen many changes over the years. He began his career working 24-7. In seven years he never took a day off. Then, as he began to expand his pharmacies and services, he was able to find quality workers who took on the cause to make his dreams a reality on a daily basis as well. Now, it’s not just humans that fill prescriptions at his pharmacies, but also robots. The robots in St. Joseph and Maryville select the bottles, and dispense around 200 to 240 different medications. The robot counts the medications as the pills are put into the bottles and transfers the bottles to a labeling system. The pharmacists or techs then doublecheck the prescription is filled correctly, making it an extremely efficient and fast operating system. The pharmacies also have high technology computers that are able to pinpoint its delivery customers’ exact locations and then track delivery drivers, monitor vehicle idling, etc. to better provide a speedy service of delivery. The pharmacies also have a machine that the pharmacists feed the pills into, which are then counted and recorded. These computer records show exactly what pill was fed into the machine, when, and how many, a great reporting system. Even the phone systems at the pharmacies are extremely efficient. If you accidentally call the wrong Rogers Pharmacy location, they can patch you through to the pharmacy you need. Melvin said the advancements he’s witnessed in the last 50 years are amazing and he strives to stay on the edge of technology and keep Rogers Pharmacy advancing right along with it. Even the way prescriptions are called in has expanded (Rogers Pharmacy has an app for that).
Melvin doesn’t see Rogers Pharmacy staying “as is.” He hopes to see double the expansion in five years time, whether it’s with more locations or in its gross sales/client base. Rogers Pharmacy is an accredited medical provider and always will be as long as there is a need or a prescription to fill. For more information on services provided by Rogers Pharmacy, visit www.rogersrx.com.