Planting a Legacy

Garden project part of Kilgore’s focus on customer and community service

When Kilgore’s Medical Pharmacy decided to create a community garden for the kids at Nora Stewart Early Learning Center, Kilgore’s co-owner Ann Bromstedt thought tomatoes would be a great first crop. But that’s a hard sell to preschool kids.
“We asked them what they wanted to grow, and all of them said strawberries,” Bromstedt said. “I suggested tomatoes, but a lot of them turned their noses up at that.”
Although the kids might not eat them, Bromstedt still plans to grow a few of her own tomatoes in the vacant lot next to the pharmacy’s Providence Road location. It’s the least she and the other Kilgore’s owners can ask for because the partnership with the early learning center, though perhaps the most visible, is only one of many gestures of philanthropy the business has shown during the years.

Employees raised $5,000 last year and donated it to Big Brothers Big Sisters, Central Missouri Food Bank, the Salvation Army, Smile Train and Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding. They donated $1,200 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. They support local school sports teams, the Boys & Girls Club and the Voluntary Action Center, among others. As a locally owned pharmacy competing with the likes of Walmart, Walgreens and Hy-Vee, Kilgore’s community involvement is a must, Bromstedt said.
“You really show your community that you care,” she said. “You’re there for them, and they’re there for you.”

Kilgore’s owners Bill Morrissey, Beth Stubbs, Bob Kilgore, Laura Kingsley and Bromstedt see the garden as providing health education in the inner city. The lot Kilgore’s owns next to store wasn’t being used, and after talking it over in December with their marketing representative, Paula Elias of Axiom, the owners decided a community garden for the learning center was a perfect fit.
“Twenty years ago, everyone in that neighborhood had a garden,” Elias said. “You don’t really see that anymore.”
Kilgore’s has already signed on other business owners to donate some of their time. Matt Lewis from Lewis Tree Service is removing several trees free of charge; Phil Stewart of Phil’s Garden will help supervise the planting and crop care; and Kilgore and Bromstedt’s husband, Skip, will fence in the 4,000-square-foot space. By mid-March, they hope to break ground.
“We take care of a lot of individuals in this community,” Bromstedt said. “I think once it becomes somewhat viral that we’re doing this, then I think a lot of the community will get involved and see the benefits attached to it.”
After they get a successful crop, they’ll sell some of the produce at their store or even open a farmer’s market booth and donate the proceeds back to the early learning center.
Other than the garden, not much has changed at the pharmacy since Kilgore retired two years ago, Bromstedt said. The location on Providence is as busy as ever, as is the Chapel Hill store. And because business is booming, Morrissey said he feels it’s their responsibility to give back to the community. They could easily replace many of their employees with machines that automatically fill prescriptions, he said, but they’ve chosen not to because “it just feels more right supporting the community.”

“Our sole focus isn’t on the almighty dollar; that’s not the only thing we’re here for,” Morrissey said.
This project, though, is different. In the past, the pharmacy has donated to numerous causes throughout the city “in a little bit of a haphazard way,” Morrissey said. They’re not planning on stopping, but he said this was something that could be a lasting change.
“There are other places that pick something they want to bite off and make it theirs,” Morrissey said. “And I think this is something we can bite off.”
Since starting in 1993, Kilgore’s has bitten off quite a chunk of the local pharmacy market. Even competing with huge chains offering $4 prescriptions, Kilgore’s has managed to carve out quite a niche, which owners attribute to their customer service and a population “educated” about the benefits of shopping locally. They hope to open a second drive-through window this spring at the Providence store and are even considering opening a third location in north Columbia.

“It’s always been a can we’ve kicked around, but we’re definitely paying attention to that can a little more right now,” Morrissey said.
The store’s success has even prompted some of the chains to approach them about selling.
“Companies approach you, but there’s too much heart and soul in this for us to go down that path,” Bromstedt said.
She wants her kids, who have both indicated an interest in pharmacy school, to eventually be able to buy into the company and keep it locally owned.
“To me, that’s more important than any check some retail chain could hand me,” Bromstedt said. “To keep it a family-owned business is of utmost importance, especially with other partners involved because they all have children also.”
Although getting preschoolers excited about gardening might be a challenge, the Kilgore’s owners hope that the community will see the garden’s potential and get involved. As for Morrissey, he can’t wait to get his own kids involved with the garden, and he’ll be donating important supplies, too.
“My wife’s a farm girl from a small town in Nebraska, and she got the affliction of horses, as I call it,” he said. “So we have a couple horses, and I have the fertilizer ready and rearing.”