Local Business Profile: Colonial Pharmacy

Pharmacist Bob Kerek is the second-generation owner of Colonial Pharmacy on Cleveland-Massillon Road in Bath. His father, William Kerek, was the entrepreneurial pharmacist who founded the business with a partner in the mid 1950s when independent pharmacies were the norm.

“There were well over 100 independent pharmacies in Summit County back then,” Kerek said. Revco (now CVS) was the closest thing to a “chain” and no grocery store had pharmacies, he added. The closest independent pharmacies at the time were Van’s in Richfield or Sand Run Pharmacy on Sand Run Road in Akron, he added.

Although pharmacies have changed greatly in the last 50 years, Colonial Pharmacy has been successful by sticking to its independent roots, Kerek said.

Good customer service is a key to his business. “We work quickly to get you in and out in two or three minutes,” he said. Kerek said it isn’t his goal to make you linger in the store so you have time to browse and pick up other items.

But, in the end, everyone who works at the pharmacy likes what he or she does and it shows, Kerek said. It’s a very positive atmosphere that has fostered positive growth since Kerek took over the business, he added.

“We get to know our people and their kids and their dogs,” Kerek said. 

Company name?

Colonial Pharmacy 

How long have you been in business?

Colonial Pharmacy opened in 1954. William Kerek bought out his partner in 1961. Bob Kerek took over operation of the business when his father died in 1986 and bought the business from his mother in 1993.

Bob Kerek earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and worked for Goodyear in research. He later graduated from the pharmacy program at the University of Toledo. 

How many people are employed?

Colonial Pharmacy has nine employees -- three pharmacists and six pharmacy technicians and associates. One pharmacist and one pharmacy tech have been employed at the store for 20 years, Kerek said. “Come into this pharmacy you see the same people day after day, decade after decade,” Kerek said. Even kids who begin working there while they’re in high school usually don’t leave until they’ve finished college, he added. 

Where is the company headquartered?

Colonial Pharmacy is at 1915 North Cleveland-Massillon Road, Bath, in the same building constructed by Kerek’s father and his partner in 1954. At the time, it was the only building at the corner of Ira and Cleveland-Massillon Roads, Kerek said.

When restaurateur Ken Stewart remodeled what is now Ken Stewart’s Lodge, he ripped back to the common wall for the two businesses. Six-foot letters spelled out Colonial Pharmacy on what once was the pharmacy’s exterior wall, Kerek said. 

What is your product/service?

Colonial is a full-service pharmacy. In addition to filling prescriptions, the pharmacy has wound care supplies and durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, canes and bathroom safety equipment, Kerek said. The store also stocks health and beauty items, over-the-counter medications and greeting cards. Items not stocked are available the next day by special order, Kerek said.

Prices are competitive, he said. “A lot of people don’t know that, but insurance plans dictate what [customers] pay. We can’t charge more,” Kerek said.

Colonial Pharmacy offers home delivery and mails prescriptions to its customers who elsewhere for part of the year, Kerek said. 

What is your goal for the company?

“I’d like to keep growing. I’d like to hire more people and provide more services than I do now,” Kerek said. He working to add immunizations such as flu, pneumonia and shingles vaccines to his product line, he said. 

Colonial Pharmacy is open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. The pharmacy is closed on Sundays and holidays.