Pharmacist opened Marlton's Cropwell Pharmacy 38 years ago, and now son keeps the tradition.

The independent Cropwell Pharmacy in Marlton has its roots in Cherry Hill, explains Jarrod Kelly, the store's owner and its sole pharmacist.

His father, Barry Kelly, had been a pharmacist for about 10 years when he opened Cooper Apothecary on Brace Road in Cherry Hill in 1975. Although Jarrod said his father had good professional relationships with the physicians who shared the building, the quarters eventually became too small for him.

"He wanted to grow the business," Jarrod said. "He found this spot."

This spot is Cropwell Pharmacy, which opened on Old Marlton Pike in 1985, just yards from the end of Cropwell Road and in a small strip center that has housed four pizzerias since the pharmacy first opened. It's less than two miles from where Jarrod lives today and about one third of a mile from the Cherry Hill border.   

The younger Kelly — who has a great-uncle, uncle and father-in-law who were in the pharmaceutical industry — said he knew he would follow in his father's footsteps, having helped his father in the business. Jarrod said this one-on-one professional time made his father his mentor, best friend, hero and idol.

"I knew nothing else. I just watched him work, and he had a tremendous work ethic. He never complained. He just did it," Jarrod said. "He always would take time to explain things, and he was very knowledgeable about the drugs. That, to me, was something."

As Jarrod was finishing up his education and waiting for license approval in Massachusetts in the early 1990s, he said his mother called him to say his father had what would be the first of several heart attacks, a health crisis that made Jarrod speed up his plans to return to New Jersey. He began working in Cropwell Pharmacy soon after returning.

The pharmaceutical industry has changed in several significant ways since those days, according to Jarrod.

Back then, technicians didn't have to be licensed, Jarrod explained. "We would hire kids at 13 and 14, and we would keep them for five years and pay them $3.50 or $5 an hour."

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Today, the federal government, the state boards and regulations make it "very, very difficult" to run a pharmacy, Jarrod said. "There is so much paperwork just in compliance alone."

Amid the frustrations, Jarrod said he saw room for improvement.

He said that when he saw that the computer system commonly used by pharmacists to track patient opioid prescriptions was updated only weekly, allowing people to fill multiple prescriptions for the addictive painkillers, he voiced his concerns to a legislator. That conversation helped facilitate the system upgrade that updates a patient's opioid prescriptions in real-time.

To help him with the changes required of the pharmaceutical industry, he said he relies heavily on Marta Grillo, an employee of Cropwell Pharmacy for more than 20 years who he said wears many professional hats, including office manager and human resources director.

Jarrod said that when Barry retired from filling prescriptions, his father began to focus on auditing at the pharmacy, such as ensuring that the addresses in the pharmacy's records agree with those in the health insurance records.

Although Jarrod said he is glad to have his father still around, he misses the days when they worked side-by-side "on the bench," which is how Jarrod describes the space where he works.

He said his mother, Linda Kelly, has long been a part of the business. She handles ordering the non-pharmaceutical and non-medicinal products within the store, such as greeting cards, children's activity kits and stuffed animals.

Unlike in some pharmacies, the shelves are not filled with many different brands of the same product. Jarrod said the store's business model calls for having one product that works exceptionally well, as described on its label.

The store's customers span multiple generations, said Jarrod, attributing the customer loyalty to the customer service that he and his staff provide. Many of the store's other customers come from several nearby assisted-living facilities, added Jarrod.

"People are not a number here," he said. "If there is a niche product that a customer has changed to or the customer is unable to get, we'll actually make the extra effort to get it for them. I'll treat everybody the same whether I know them or not."

Jarrod estimated that he knows nine out of 10 of his customers by name, as well as their prescriptions. He also said that by keeping up to date on medications and their potential interactions, a red flag will immediately go off in his head if a patient asks about taking two pills together that he believes could be harmful. He said he always verifies this notion with guidance from the industry, and practically every time, the red flag has been justified.

He noted that his sister works in the legal profession, his brother makes a living as a contract photographer, one of his daughters is attending medical school in Cleveland and his other daughter is pursuing her master's degree at Rutgers in a non-pharmaceutical field.

Thus, Jarrod said, he does not anticipate family members taking over the business.  

He said the pharmacy would remain open at least until his parents die or he turns 70, whichever happens first, adding: "I feel that I owe them to be at the store until the last dying breath. I need to be here for that."

The store cut back on some of its hours during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. The store never added those store hours back, he said, adding that before, during and after the pandemic, customers know that if there is a genuine emergency, he would be more than willing to meet them at the pharmacy after the store has closed and take care of their needs.  

He reflected on why he has stayed so long in the profession: Nothing beats "the feeling of accomplishment when you can make someone feel better," he said.

IF YOU GO: 

Cropwell Pharmacy is at 527 Old Marlton Pike West in Marlton. The store is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and closed on Sundays. Its website is cropwellrx.com. 

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