When Chuck Blackburn decided to open his own drugstore 75 years ago, he envisioned it as a "professional" pharmacy.

"He grew up in a house owned by people who owned a pharmacy, which he also worked at," said his son, Charles "Chuck" R. Blackburn. "Every morning at 11 o'clock, everyone would stop what they were doing and start making food. He smelled food all day long.

"When he opened his own pharmacy, he refused to have a lunch counter."

Not having a lunch counter was a radical move in the 1930s when most drugstores included soda fountains, but it worked because Blackburn's Pharmacy is getting ready to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Most of its local competitors are long gone.

The original name of the pharmacy was Physicians Pharmacy, an attempt by the older Blackburn to separate his drugstore from his competitors.

Blackburn's son, Chuck, took over the company for his father in 1971 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy.

Today, Blackburn's is a multi-million dollar corporation that specializes in five areas: the pharmacy, which is located on Corbet Street in Tarentum; medical equipment; medical supplies; respiratory services; and specialty products, such as hospital beds.

In addition to the pharmacy, Blackburn's has a corporate headquarters and warehouse in Tarentum, and showrooms in Cranberry, Erie, and Buffalo, N.Y. The company sells medical equipment throughout Western Pennsylvania, Western New York, Eastern Ohio and parts of West Virginia.

As the company evolved one thing has remained the same: Blackburn's still calls Tarentum home.

"Tarentum is where Blackburn's started," said Ron Rukas who has co-owned the company with Blackburn since 1976. "It's where we're committed to be."

Challenges and triumphs

Being a privately-owned pharmacy comes with many challenges.

New government restrictions, competition from large drugstore chains, such as Rite Aid and Walgreens, and a rough economy have seemingly eliminated most of the neighborhood drugstores that used to anchor street corners of almost every town in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

Yet, Blackburn's continues on.

"We're based not on price but on service," said Rukas. "People pick their pharmacist like they pick their church: They have to trust you."

Customer service is the most important attribute an independent pharmacy can offer, according to John Norton, spokesman for the National Community Pharmacists Association.

"You have to have a real patient-care focus," he said. "The one thing big pharmacies are missing is the one-on-one customer service."

Blackburn and Rukas acknowledge that the pharmacy is the old face of the company. The bulk of the company's income comes from their four other branches of business, all which involve supplying medical equipment.

"We've evolved," said Blackburn. "We've filled niches as we go."

"We went from small-town pharmacy to regional provider," added Rukas.

In 1995, Blackburn's became one of the first small-medical supply companies to be accredited by the Joint Commission, an independent organization that accredits health care companies, according to Georgie Blackburn, Chuck's wife and a company vice president who deals with government relations and legislative affairs.

Blackburn's is facing more hurdles from the federal government, which recently started regulating from which companies Medicare can buy supplies.

Blackburn's was able to acquire two of nine possible contracts the government was awarding, but Georgie Blackburn is still worried.

"We do a lot of business with the Medicaid and Medicare population," she said. "The government is making uneducated opinions."

Georgie Blackburn said the legislation makes complying with government regulations tougher than ever before, and that could cause small companies to abandon working with Medicare.

"One wrong sentence in an invoice might (mean that invoice does) not comply with government standards," she said. "That could cost a company thousands of dollars and make them reassess their business relationship with Medicare. That directly affects the patient."

Blackburn's has been lobbying to get the new legislation repealed.

"We're here to speak up for the people who can't speak for themselves," Georgie Blackburn said.

A family business

Blackburn's is a family run company that is likely to stay that way for years to come. Both Blackburn and Rukas have children who are pharmacists employed by the company.

Rukas doesn't even hold the title of Blackburn's longevity in his own household.

"My wife worked here for two years as a pharmacist before I came aboard," he said.

Reflecting on the 75 years the business has been open, Chuck Blackburn says times have changed.

"My father used to work from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. seven days a week," he recalled about his dad, who died in 1989. "If a (customer's) kid got sick at home and the bread winner was at work with the car, we had to deliver the medication. Today, everybody has a car. Things are different."

Open house

What: Blackburn's 75th Anniversary Customer Appreciation Day and Open House

When: Aug. 17, noon to 4:30 p.m.

Where: Blackburn's Pharmacy, 301 Corbet St., Tarentum

75 years of service

Here's a look back at Blackburn's Pharmacy in Tarentum:

• The elder Charles Blackburn was a pharmacist at Central drugstore on Corbet Street. He started his own pharmacy after having a disagreement with the owner of Central Drug concerning merchandise damaged in the 1936 St. Patrick's Day flood.

• Blackburn Physicians Pharmacy had four employees when they opened, 26 employees when they celebrated their 50th anniversary, and 173 people now.

• Since Blackburn's opened, vaccines have been discovered for polio, the flu, measles, mumps, and chicken pox.

• Blackburn's was one of the first retail stores to sell Russell Stover chocolates. Because the chocolate didn't contain preservatives, it could on remain on the shelves for only two weeks before it had to be thrown away.

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