Upgrades coming to Nambe Drugs under new ownership
Oct. 4—By the end of the year, people with an armload of prescriptions should be able to pick up all their drugs at one time at the Nambe Drugs pharmacies in Santa Fe and Los Alamos instead of piecemeal.
Nambe Drugs is in the process of introducing medicine synchronicity and point-of-care testing — including strep and influenza testing — by the end of the year and also increasing immunizations at businesses and schools.
"We are going to line up prescriptions so they can pick up all their medicines at one time," Nambe Drugs owner Scott Robinson said.
Scott and Lori Robinson acquired Nambe Drugs in Santa Fe and Los Alamos on Feb. 14 from Tom and Frances Lovett, who had owned Nambe Drugs since 2010. The Lovetts moved Nambe Drugs from Pojoaque to Santa Fe in 2015, the same year they acquired the outpatient pharmacy at the Los Alamos Medical Center and rebranded it Nambe Drugs.
The Robinsons are lifelong Beaver, Utah, residents and have owned Beaver Drug and Gift since 2000. Since then, they have opened other Utah pharmacies in Kanab, Milford and Salt Lake City. Nambe Drugs is their first out-of-state venture.
Scott Robinson heard through a friend that the Lovetts wanted to sell Nambe Drugs.
"I love to build things and grow things," Robinson said by phone from his Beaver pharmacy. "In pharmacy, it's the nature of things; to be successful, you have to branch out and grow. One-store owners are becoming fewer and fewer."
Early in his career, he worked at chain pharmacies, in hospital settings, and at Kmart and Walmart pharmacies.
"I have all the respect for chains," Robinson said. "We are a lot more mobile. We don't have to wait for corporate decisions. Our pharmacies during COVID and right now, we're vaccinating thousands of people. We have done over 1,000 vaccinations in Beaver," which has a population of 3,100.
Robinson does Zoom meetings twice a month with pharmacy managers. He may not be based here, but he knows Santa Fe is a 9 hour, 29 minute drive from Beaver.
"We've actually talked about [living in Santa Fe], at least part time," he said.
The Robinsons have updated the computer and phone systems in Santa Fe and Los Alamos, and those stores are now joined with the Robinsons' Utah buying group.
"They are very successful," he said about the Nambe pharmacies. "Our New Mexico stores are doing great. We've been able to see some growth."
Nambe Drugs was opened in 1976 in Pojoaque by Herman Trujillo. He and his son, Dan, sold it to the Lovetts in 2010. Nambe Drugs fit the bill for Scott and Lori Robinson.
"We look for stores that are well established, have a great reputation and the owner has an excellent staff already in place," Scott Robinson said. "We look for stores that are very service-minded."
