Business Spotlight: Archdale Drug

Ryan Hoskins, owner of Archdale Drug, had always wanted to run his own small business. He tells us his story of how he started Archdale Drug and what local business means to the community.

Ryan: This is a big passion for me. This is what I’ve always wanted since I was 18 years old. This is what I wanted to do, was run my own small business.

Ryan: But I also wanted to help people as much as I could.

Ryan: When I first graduated from Chapel Hill, I went to work for another Pharmacist, and he taught me everything I needed to know. In 1999, my mentor decided to sell his pharmacy, and so, therefore, I had to make a decision then; do I want to go to work for a chain drugstore, or do I want to open up my own store?

Ryan: I mean, it was just me, my wife, my 1-year old child. I was 28 years old, I had been working for five years as a Pharmacist, but I had nothing really saved up to start a business with.

Ryan: I had zero money, I had nothing to start with other than just knowledge of how to run a pharmacy.  I went around everywhere asking for money.

Ryan: I asked about every bank in the community for money. And, fortunately for me, Steve Foley with First Bank in Archdale was a customer of mine, and he said, “I think we can do something for you.”

Ryan: The first year and a half, I worked 70 hours a week. I worried every night about paying the bills.

Ryan: That one loan from First Bank to start our business changed everything. It got the ball rolling.

Ryan: I could focus on my job and doing what I do best.

Ryan: And the next thing you know, a few years down the road, we’re opening up a second location and a third location.

Ryan: We are like a family. Literally, there are some of my family members that do work for me; my mother, my father, my brother.

Jenny Hoskins: I was a customer in the pharmacy, and Brian waited on me, and it just sort of went from there.

Ryan: We had something special but I never knew it was going to evolve into our relationship and our business at the same time.

Ryan: I think the people of Archdale and the people of High Point want to support the local business, and I think that makes it important for us to support them as well.

Ryan: It would make me very proud if one of my children or all three of them came back and did something within the business.

Ryan: I had my own passion, I did my thing. It’s up to them now, to find their passion.

Ryan: If this is it, that’s great. I think every small town needs small business.

Ryan: That’s what makes the town feel like they’re alive together.