We regularly hear about how brick-and-mortar stores are now in their death throes. So what on earth possessed Jill Castiglione to not only open Jill’s Genuine Care Pharmacy – now celebrating its five year anniversary – in downtown Farmington, but to position it directly across from a CVS?
Well, it was anything but an accident. Castiglione had worked at Farmington’s CVS for several years before deciding to strike out on her own.
“At my twenty-fifth anniversary review with the company – I’d started at Arbor Drugs – my old boss came in and told me I didn’t know how to run a business,” says Castiglione. “Really, I’d been priced out. … But instead of just saying that, they told me I didn’t know how to run a business, so I thought, ‘OK, I’ll just set up my own place across the street, then.’”
Castiglione and many of her employees were already familiar to many Farmington locals – “We all used to work across the street,” Castiglione says – and Jill’s Genuine Care Pharmacy has achieved success by aiming to be “the hometown pharmacy,” with personalized care and free prescription delivery throughout the state of Michigan (by way of partnering with delivery services when the destination lies outside the immediate area).
“I’ve always been in this community,” says Castiglione. “I’ve been working in downtown Farmington for twenty years, so I already knew my patients, and I knew what they weren’t getting. I wanted to see if I could make a positive difference.”
All signs point to “yes.” Rated at a perfect five stars everywhere you look online (“Have you seen our reviews?” Castiglione asked), Jill’s Genuine Care Pharmacy has earned an enthusiastic and fiercely loyal local following over the past five years.
“It’s just about patient care,” says Castiglione. “ … I wanted to really be there for my patients, and know them personally, and give them the kind of care they’re not used to.”
This homespun notion, especially when paired with a new brick-and-mortar venture, might indeed seem to thwart conventional wisdom in terms of “running a business” in the digital age.
But in a tight-knit, small community like Farmington, it just might be the perfect prescription.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.