The Bartell Story

The third person named George to head the Bartell Drug chain stopped in for a visit Friday, as George D. Bartell (not the third – different middle name!) followed the growth of his 113-year-old company, which makes Bartell’s the oldest in the country. George D. serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Jean (Bartell) Barber, the founder’s granddaughter, is the Chief Financial Officer of the company.

“My grandfather, George H. Bartell, Sr., grew up on a farm in Kansas, but he wanted something else besides farming and trained to become a pharmacist. He was 21-years-old when he set out for Washington in 1887. In 1890, a doctor had a drugstore for sale, and George. Sr., bought it. The Lake Washington Pharmacy became Bartell’s first store. He lived above the store, which was located on the trolley line between downtown Seattle and Lake Washington. He left the store with a caretaker and headed north in 1897 for the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush. This experience led him to decide that he had a good thing going in the drugstore business, and he returned to Seattle.”

Don Deasy hands George Bartell a worthless scrap of paper (probably his business card) in thanks for his program Friday.

Mr. Bartell described how prescriptions were filled back in those early days. “They were compounded, or mixed together, from a variety of compounds. Some of the other drug stores in the community felt that Bartell was selling prescriptions too cheaply and they forced his supplier to cut him off. He found another source in San Francisco and maintained his lower prices to where you could say he was the first discount drugstore!” As the number of stores grew, stories told say that George, Sr., walked to each store everyday.

Bartell’s used to make their own candy, offered Kodak photo finishing, had a soda fountain in every store, and then tea rooms where people could get a bite to eat. Just before prohibition arrived in Washington, George, Sr., bought the stock of a local distillery, thereby having “spirits for medicinal purposes!” In 1920, he had an offer to sell off his chain of stores to a larger company, but decided against it. Because of the proximity of the stores on sidewalks, Bartell’s was a champion of window displays. The current president’s father was going to the UW in the late1930’s when his father (the founder) was diagnosed with an illness that would shorten his life. George’s father dropped out of school to learn the drugstore business and became president of the company in 1939, while his father lived on for twenty years, outliving the doctor!

Mr. Bartell’s father went back to the UW after World War II to become a pharmacist. All of the company’s stores were in Seattle at that time, but the growth of the suburbs brought Bartell’s to serve a growing population. As the chain grew and spread out, two store managers were elevated to corporate positions, and this move proved to be very important to the orderly growth of the company. Each of the two corporate mangers has just retired, giving their careers to the company.

As for the third Bartell President, George said that he began his career at Bartell’s by going to the 4th & Pine store and hiring on as a part-time clerk and then doing relief at other stores. After college, he managed a coupled of stores before going back to business school. “Walter Salmon, a well-known instructor at the UW, told me, ‘Don’t go into the drugstore business,’ and whatever I might do, ‘get a job where results can be measured.’ I didn’t follow his advice, but I did learn one thing – find a place in a business where you can be better than your competition. Competing with the Pay n’ Save Corporation made Bartell’s a better company.”

Today, Bartell’s has 52 stores in King and Snohomish Counties. The industry is high growth, driven by prescription sales – 50% of their business comes from prescriptions. Bartell’s ranks in the top 20 drugstore chains in the United States. “Our biggest challenge is the demand for qualified pharmacists. We recruit heavily in the Midwest and Canada, even to the extent of giving signing bonuses. Our company’s strategy is focused on service. We try very hard to deliver what we promise. We emphasize ‘localness of our stores,’ serving as the neighborhood drugstore for the region’s customers.” Bartell’s newest store opened recently in Edmonds.

Mr. Bartell was asked about competition from the large nationwide chains, mail order, and internet competition. “The problem is competing technologically with the big chains. They leverage their size by using technology. We will be making our move soon to strengthen our internet sales.”

Coincidentally, news that Congress had passed the Drug Import Bill that very morning prompted a question about the new legislation. “This country has the highest drug costs in the world. This bill is trying to level those costs out. But, how will the pharmaceutical manufacturers react? They are really smart people and I’d say that not very much will happen that will hurt them.”

To build traffic, Bartell’s offers food specials in their stores. When asked about drive-thru windows, Mr. Bartell said they are important in creating new traffic, but are expensive to install. He pointed out that many of their existing stores are in places that preclude adding a drive-up service. “We know that customers find the drive-up window attractive.” Whatever Bartell’s does to compete in the marketplace, it must be working, echoing their motto “Trusted since 1890.”

Thanks to Rourke O’Brien for his introduction. President Deasy was left without a gift for speaker. He promised George a certificate to be mailed for his excellent presentation.