— written by Jeannie Rose

Medical Arts Pharmacy of Henderson was presented the Vance County Small Business of the Year Award on Wednesday.

The 2017 Small Business Luncheon for Franklin, Granville, Vance and Warren Counties was held at the Henderson Country Club Wednesday, May 3rd at noon.

Craig Hahn, Executive Director of the Warren County Chamber of Commerce, Tanya Evans, District Manager for Duke Energy and John Barnes, President of the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce, welcomed everyone and spoke about the importance about small businesses in our community. The three said that you don’t always see the good that small businesses do because it might not be done in the public eye. A good example of this is Chris Brewer and Brewer Cycles. Brewer Cycles has helped host the Duke Children’s Charity Ride for over 20 years. Small businesses help our community run smoother, they said. When you shop local, you help local business owners take care of their families as well.

Brewer was the keynote speaker for the event, and he talked about how Brewer Cycles started out. He said his dad bought him his first bike when he was young as a reward. Brewer’s love for the sport and his relationships in the field led to a local shop owner asking him if he wanted to buy his business when he was getting ready to retire. Brewer’s dad put up his tobacco stock, and Chris took a loan. He was able to pay back the loan after four years of operating the business, and he has helped Brewer Cycles expand and improve greatly since then. Brewer said, “I sold about 100 units the first year of operating the business but last year sold about 1200 units.” They have expanded their facility twice recently. Brewer said it all comes back to how you treat the customer. If you treat them right, they will go and tell a few people, but if you treat them wrong, they may tell even more.

The businesses invited to the 2017 Small Business Luncheon are foundations in our community. They represent the best of the best of small businesses in this area.

Barnes presented the Small Business of The Year Award for Vance County to Medical Arts Pharmacy. Chocky White, his wife Nettie White, and their three children Cara White Kirby, Brent White and Craig White were on hand to accept the award.

Chocky White told WIZS News, “I feel so honored because there are so many businesses in Vance County who work hard to be successful. Our business depends on the trust of its customers, and we are so fortunate to have so many faithful customers. We try our best to serve their needs, whether it’s during business hours, or after normal hours. We try to help them with all their medical needs, whether it’s medicine or medical equipment.”

White’s sons and daughter help manage and operate the business. Cara White Kirby said, “We do it all for our customers! Every challenge that we face is easier with their support. Our employees are like family to us, and we could not do everything that we do without their help!”

Chocky White spoke briefly after accepting the award, saying that his relationship with his customers was really what had helped him the most.

Chocky and Nettie moved to Henderson in 1971 and immediately started working on opening the pharmacy. Both had grown up in Warrenton, and they had no connections when they started the business. Nettie was commuting to Chapel Hill every day to go to school. Chocky said he was the only employee when the business started. He said there were seven strong independent drug stores in this area. He said, “That year Eckerd’s Drug Store also opened a chain store in Henderson. My father loaned me $6,000 to buy the inventory to put in the store.”

In February of 1971, he opened the store. He said, “Nettie took off to Chapel Hill, and I had hoped that it would be a really successful first day. That Tuesday morning, there was no business. Nettie called on a pay phone to check on how things were going. I was dreading the question, and then she finally asked how many prescriptions had been filled.”

The afternoon was the same way, still no business. He finally filled nine prescriptions in the last hour of business. White said he went home feeling like it couldn’t get any worse. The next day he had not filled any prescriptions by the time Nettie called, but in the last hour of business he filled eight prescriptions. On Thursday he filled seven prescriptions in the last hour. On Friday he filled six prescriptions in the last hour. He said, “We were trending in the wrong direction.” At dinner he told his wife, “We started with little of nothing, and in six days we will be back to little of nothing.”

White remained the only employee for several years. He tried to offer services that other pharmacies could not and to always have a pharmacist available that could talk to customers when they needed it. He said he thinks that’s the thing that really made the difference.

In the 46 years since White started the business, he has changed how he prints prescription labels, prescription drug insurance has come into being and big box drug stores have also presented a challenge. Throughout it all, White has ensured that the customers still have someone they can talk to, and Medical Arts always tries to have someone answer the phone, instead of a machine. Also, they have  tried to find niches that were not being served by other stores. Durable medical equipment has really helped, he said.

White said, “About five years ago, I was definitely thinking about retiring and my children had shown some interest in coming back. They did, and it led to a need to expand the store.” The new store was built last year at 253 Ruin Creek Road, and also they have a new website. He said the new store, new web site and the drive thru have all really helped make things easier for their customers.

Kirby said, “As his children, we are so proud of him! It’s no accident that he has been so successful. He has worked extremely hard over the last 46 years. He has done it the right way, by being fair and honest and taking great care of people, because he genuinely cares about the people of Vance County. In the early years, he worked on Sunday mornings before we went to church. And he has gone out to the store on holidays and nights when people really needed medicine. People don’t forget that. He has always preached to us that it’s all about service.”

The luncheon was sponsored by Duke Energy, the Granville County Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce, The Chamber of Commerce of Warren County, and the Vance Granville Community College Small Business Center.

Blaine Holmes, Vice Chairman of the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce presented the 2017 Small Business of the Year Award for the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce to Toney ACE Hardware. Elizabeth Melvin, Roger Melvin and John Melvin were in attendance to accept the award.

Cynthia Currin of Floyd Management Realty, a 2015 Small Business of the Year Award recipient, presented the 2017 Small Business of the Year Award for Granville County Chamber of Commerce to Bob’s Barbecue of Creedmoor, NC. Paula Ellington and Carla Mangum were in attendance to accept the award. Other Chamber Staff and Tourism Staff are also pictured. The twin sisters took over the restaurant in 1996. Their parents, Bobby and Nita Whitfield, opened the business in 1970.

Craig Hahn presented the Small Business of The Year Award for Warren County to Warrenton Furniture Exchange.  David Gardner and his wife Kathy were in attendance to accept the award. Bill Miller, President of the Board of Directors at Warren County Chamber of Commerce, is on the far left.