ABOVE: Jacob Reuter walks through the new prescription-filling and distribution center at Sterling Pharmacy in the Five Lakes Centre Mall, where their gift store used to be. The center will provide prescriptions to 12 Sterling Pharmacy locations across MN and IA, as well as other independent pharmacies throughout Minnesota.

FAIRMONT – The Five Lakes Centre mall space that previously held Sterling Pharmacy’s gift shop will now serve as a hub for 12 Sterling pharmacies across Minnesota and Iowa, as well as other independent locations.

Manager Jacob Reuter said that the simplest way to describe it is as a ‘second pharmacy’ which will serve only to provide medications for other locations.

“They’re going to have have their meds filled here,” he said. “We’re doing this so that pharmacists have more opportunities. Instead of doing some mundane tasks, pharmacists have more ability to do some stuff that they are truly educated for. Point of care testing, more drug utilization, more patient interactions, be involved in their communities.”

Through having this system, Reuter said it is going to be a fun way to fill medications more efficiently.

“Our reimbursement continues to decline, so we need to find ways to be more efficient in filling our medications,” he said. “It is also one of the few that are actually available for independent pharmacies right now. Walgreens, Hy-Vee, Walmart, all these different big corporations are doing the same concept. A little bit unique is we’re one of the few that are actually doing it on an independent basis.”

Also, while all these big-name pharmacies have their distribution centers that create jobs in the Twin Cities and Des Moines, having this distribution center here will create 19 new full-time jobs in Fairmont.

The gift shop closed at the end of 2024 but the process of creating a distribution system began around three years ago, when changes were observed in the pharmaceutical industry.

“We have to find ways to be more efficient and to lean on our technology,” Reuter said. “At the same time, hiring has become difficult. We need to find ways so we can still operate these small, independent pharmacies in these small communities when they have difficulty hiring staff.”

For Fairmont to have been chosen for this project, Reuter said they have a very experienced staff open to change and new ideas.

“That’s kind of the main reason we have people that have been here for a long time,” he said. “We’re always willing to try new things at our location, new software, new policies, new procedures. We were in a good opportunity to take this and run with it.”

At the Fairmont location, besides some potentially different-looking pill bottles, nothing will change for people who use Sterling Pharmacy.

After about a year of building the system, which consists of several conveyors, electronics, robotics and mechanical systems, everything will be ready to go on May 5. From the beginning, they will be able to send out 4,000 orders in eight hours.

“We worked with a team of different types of architects,” Reuter said. “People are trying to find the design, a lot of different engineers to determine how to properly place it in the space. We completely knocked out everything in here. We started fresh with the new white wall spray. Added a new break room, new bathrooms. We renovated the whole site in order to bring in this automation.”

From there, the prescriptions will be distributed using a courier system.

“We’re going to, on a daily basis, fill their medications for them, have them couriered back to their small independent pharmacy, and they’re going to be dispersed or sold to the customer at that point,” Reuter said.

Making Fairmont a hub in this way is something that means a lot to Reuter as a long-time citizen of this area.

“I grew up in St James,” he said. “I’ve lived in Fairmont since 2013. I’m raising my family and my kids here. I wanted to be involved in Fairmont. I have a lot of faith and a lot of positive things about our Fairmont community, and I want to make sure that we can continue to expand what we can offer here in Fairmont.”

Moving forward, Reuter said their main goal is for Sterling Pharmacy to be successful.

“We want it to be operating at its top efficiency,” he said. “We want to be doing it up to that max capacity to make it efficient. Secondly, we want it to provide an opportunity for our pharmacists and for our staff at these other sites to be doing clinical services. Medication therapy management, point of care testing for strep, flu, covid, doing vaccinations, outreach in the community, going to facilities and help facilitate that. We want to free up time for our staff to be more centered on patient care.”

For more information, call 507-238-2797.