Pharmacy Owner Pointing Collier Toward Century Mark

Mel Collier comes from a long line of pharmacists — only he is not a pharmacist.

Instead, his contributions to the family-owned Collier Drug Stores Inc. of Fayetteville come more from a business acumen than from pharmacy training.

“I like the challenge of business,” said Collier, the owner of the 97-year-old company which is nearing its 100th birthday and viewed by locals as a fixture on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. “I like coming to work every day and trying to find a better way to do something. I’m big on efficiencies.”

Collier, 46, worked a variety of jobs for the family business as a teenager. But it wasn’t until 1994 that he joined the company full time, following graduation from the University of Arkansas in 1994 with a management degree.

It was not a prearranged path.

“Growing up, Dad said I could do whatever I wanted; there was no pressure [to work for the family business],” Collier said. “When I came back, Dad wanted to be the face guy, talking to customers. He never really liked the business part, and that’s what I enjoy doing. I was a numbers guy. I handled the behind-the-scenes work.

“Looking back, I didn’t understand everything, but growing up in the business, I understood a lot.”

Collier Drug Stores traces its roots back to the Red Cross Drug Store, founded on the downtown Fayetteville square in 1917 by Mel’s great-grandfather, M.M. Collier.

Morris Collier, Mel’s grandfather, opened Collier Drug Store in 1950 at its current flagship location on Dickson Street and Carl Collier, Mel’s father, took his place running the business in 1971.

Mel Collier took on the title of operations manager in 1998 and was honored as a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class in 2006.

In January 2007, he became owner when Carl Collier shifted into semi-retirement after 35 years. He is still very much involved with the company, but it is Mel who is leading the drive into the future.

“We wanted him to be able to do what he wants to do and enjoy himself,” Mel said. “If he wanted to work that’s fine; if he didn’t that’s fine, too.”

When Mel bought the ownership stake, Collier Drug Stores had six locations throughout Northwest Arkansas. Today, the company operates eight locations in the area — a ninth location in Tontitown will open later this year — has 79 employees and recorded about $25 million in sales last year.

Collier admits retail pharmacy is an industry now dominated by big chains and distributors, but he also believes enough people still appreciate the services of an independent.

“These are the people we want to take care of; they are our friends and family,” he said. “It’s going the extra mile tthat makes that connection.”

Like other Dickson Street merchants, Collier has issues with parking.

“If we didn’t have our own lot on the west side of the building, we’d be crying,” he said.

But he may have a say in a future solution. On May 2, Collier closed on a $2.7 million land purchase of 1.4 acres at the corner of Dickson Street and Block Avenue, across from the front entrance to the drug store.

Collier is exploring ways to make the best use of the property, for the benefit of the entire downtown.

Away from work, Collier proudly proclaims being from a family of gearheads. He even ran a business, CDS Racing Inc., out of his home for eight years before closing it in 2009.

“Drugstore during the day and hot rod parts at night,” he recalled.

Drag racing remains a hobby, and Collier even has a private track at his hay farm off of Dead Horse Mountain Road near Stonebridge Meadows Golf Course in east Fayetteville, where he is building a home for his new wife Amie — the two were married June 22 — and their four children.

Collier paid $1.37 million for the property, known as CDS Farms and Motorsports Park, in March 2012. It was initially developed by the late Gary Combs, the flamboyant developer who died in California in August 2012, before falling into the portfolio of The Bank of Fayetteville in 2010.

“My dad’s dad had cars, my dad always had a project going on and I’m no different,” he said. “It’s just for the fun of it. We’ve been pretty successful with what we’ve chosen to race in.”