New Hutton Pharmacy opens August 19 thanks to Blackwell's spirit

Hutton Pharmacy will officially be opening at their new Doolin location on Monday, August 19 with their hours being from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday - Friday and Saturdays from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

The last year has been rough for the Blackwell staple, but owner, manager, and pharmacist Clark Bishop believes the new location will serve them and the community better than their historic Main Street residence ever could.

With over 800 square feet added to Hutton’s new building on the corner on Doolin and 9th, the small-town pharmacy will still offer the boutique portion of the store, its pharmacy counter, and other amenities they weren’t previously afforded including health insurance consultation with licensed agents on-site, a 1 on 1 clinical room, and a multipurpose room for health education classes.

Just over a year ago, Hutton Pharmacy on Main Street was one of the many devastating losses thanks to a late-summer storm that tore through Blackwell.

Their roof collapsed, their newly redone location ruined, and their wares wiped out, the situation seemed dire.

But the indomitable spirit of the Hutton Pharmacy staff, the support of the community, and help from other businesses as well as the City of Blackwell saw the historic pharmacy open up their temporary location on Bridge Street and continue serving the community's healthcare needs.

Now, their new facility stands on the corner of Doolin and 9th, a monument to the indomitable spirit of Blackwell and the men and women who help run Hutton Pharmacy, ensuring that it takes care of America’s Hometown for generations to come.

“Coming off of Main Street is sad,” said Bishop, “this is about the best possible location we could have lucked into.”

Last Wednesday, Clark Bishop and Abigail Montoya were in Hutton’s new location stocking shelves, assembling furniture, and putting the finishing touches on the immaculate building which once upon a time was everything from a Mazzio’s to a pawn shop to a Chinese buffet to a pizzeria.

You’d be hard-pressed to remember it was ever anything besides Hutton Pharmacy after seeing the radical changes to the exterior and interior of the building.

Over 500 square feet were added to the front of the building for the Hutton’s boutique area.

“We are cutting back from the 1,000 square feet we were afforded on Main Street, but the selection will be tighter, more concise, more focused on things people want,” said Bishop.

Hutton Pharmacy will- among other items- offer a skincare line, high-quality supplements, Corckcicle insulated mugs (think Stanley), a candle line, purses, Blackwell-themed items like customized Maroon Spirit cups and other gameday gear, jewelry, novelty items, healthcare supplies (cough, cold, allergy, knee supports, braces) and more.

The new space will be open from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, but Bishop noted that the new space could allow for the pharmacy portion of the building to be opened separately, suggesting that in the future the “boutique” could be open at different hours if there’s a want for it.

The new location will offer a drive-through service window and, most importantly, tons of parking.

“Parking was a major issue at our Main Street location,” said Bishop, “it could get pretty dicey, especially around lunchtime. Parking was always a huge concern raised by our staff and our customers, and we had attempted to find several workarounds in the past that just didn’t pan out. Now, we have plenty of parking space.”

The new Hutton Pharmacy also includes a 10 x 10 clinical room for full-on point of care testing for flu, strep, Covid, blood glucose, A1C, immunizations, tetanus shots, and 1 on 1 consultations.

Also included is a multipurpose room that will be used for educational group sessions.

The biggest addition, Bishop noted, was that Hutton Pharmacy will have health insurance agents on-site, by appointment, that will offer consultation and services based on getting patients enrolled in health insurance.

“Health insurance is confusing, it can be daunting to people, understandably. Now our patients will get the care and explanation they need on the options available to them,” Bishop explained.

The space afforded to Hutton’s now will be beneficial to not only the community but to the staff as well.

“We were quite literally on top of each other at the clinic, our temporary site,” said Bishop, “it was stressful for our customers as well, but now we have all of this space, and I really think it’s going to be amazing. We can’t wait for people to come in and check this out.”

MakeKings in Ponca City is doing graphics on the windows for the new building, which will be coming in the near future.

Bishop explained that currently, Hutton Pharmacy is busy getting through all the red-tape surrounding their move including various sales tax details, licenses, and more which will all be cleared up soon.

“The loss of our building was a blessing in disguise,” said Bishop, “we re-roofed and gutted the old location and it is currently being used for storage while we’re between stores. One day, I hope to sell it and see what someone can bring to the community in that location.”

Despite the chaos over the last year, Bishop said that Hutton Pharmacy retained a whopping 85% of its clients.

“If you hang on to 85% of your business after a move like that, that means people care, it means people are behind you,” said Bishop.

“The community rooted for us this whole time. We couldn’t have done the last year without the community, without Justun and Abby, her husband Cody, Robert, our parent company Total Dose, and our sister locations in the state,” Bishop praised.

He continued, about Abigail Montoya:

“I can’t say enough good things about Abby, our Pharmacy Supervisor. She is so tremendously involved within the community. She’s on the Chamber of Commerce, the School Board, the Blackwell Library Book Club…people flock to her, they see all the work she does. She’s a Blackwell Beacon if I’ve ever seen one.”

“Another tremendous asset to us over the last year was the City of Blackwell, specifically City Manager Jerry Wieland. He moved mountains for us, guided us, it was incredible.”

Bishop then turned his attention across the street toward Walmart:

“Enough can’t be said about Walmart. They’re technically supposed to be our ‘competition’, but none of that exists. They did so much for us in the last year. They helped us wherever they could, they took care of our customers, they expressed concern…they didn’t have to do any of that for us, and they did, and that speaks a lot to Walmart as a company and the men and women who work there.”

“Blackwell has taken care of us for as long as Hutton Pharmacy has taken care of them. This new building is nice, it’s beautiful, but as I said before it is nothing without the people. Without our customers and our employees. A business is more than just a building, it’s more than just the new frontage and new windows. It’s the people that run it, it’s the people that help, it’s our customers. A business is not a place, it’s the people.”