Carolina Pharmacy Named 2024 Retailer of the Year by The NC Retail Merchants Association

RALEIGH, NC (April 22, 2024) – Carolina Pharmacy has been named 2024 Retailer of the Year, one of two leading businesses to receive the honor from the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association (NCRMA). The awards were presented during NCRMA’s Annual Retailer of the Year awards dinner at Proximity Hotel in Greensboro on April 18th.

Carolina Pharmacy is a trusted, patient-oriented pharmacy, having served residents in and around Charlotte since 2009. With 6 locations strategically situated to best serve their patients, Carolina Pharmacy is furthering their mission – “Your well-being is our #1 priority”.

Determined to provide his community with the absolute best patient care, Dr. Vipul (Vic) Patel, CEO and CFO originally founded Carolina Pharmacy in 2008. Born in India, he moved to Lancaster, SC during his adolescence and quickly developed a passion for family business. After finishing pharmacy school and working as a pharmacy manager for Walmart, Vic was led to become a pharmacist in Charlotte driven by his belief that helping people can be profitable to both the customer as well as the business.

Dr. Chirag (Chi) Patel (no relation), COO and Brand Ambassador, was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. After earning his Doctorate of Pharmacy and MBA, Chi was a pharmacy manager at Walgreens in Texas. Looking for change and wanting to return to the East Coast he moved to Charlotte. There Chi met Vic and, together, they formed the Carolina Pharmacy Group, a group of neighborhood drug stores in the Carolinas.

The Carolina Pharmacy Group has grown to include 5 locations in the Charlotte area. But even with their successful growth, Carolina Pharmacy continues to demonstrate a relentless commitment to their mission: To focus primarily on the health of the patient by offering an array of services including:

• Compounding Services
• Medicare Consulting and education for the aging consumer base
• Immunizations
• Medical Compliance Packaging
• CBD Education
• Rapid Testing and Travel Health
• Education and Medication Management

The leadership at Carolina Pharmacy places a great deal of importance on staffing and training and they back that up by working with pharmacy students from UNC, Wingate and USC.  These students complete a 1-2 month rotation and, on average, 3 of 6 students are hired to work in one of their locations. They also support continuing education of their employees. Establishing goals and brainstorming are part of the standard at Carolina Pharmacy.

They focus on team camaraderie by hosting social events.  Dr. Chi Patel said, “If our employees love what they do, they will be better at their job and our community will ultimately benefit”

Beyond their day-to-day pharmacy work, Carolina Pharmacy extends their impact beyond professional success, encompassing mentorship efforts, advocacy initiatives, and philanthropic work.  Whether sponsoring a little league team, offering testing and clinical services to local businesses, or providing assistance in several local senior living facilities, the staff at Carolina Pharmacy continues to build a culture of awareness and inclusion to the communities they serve.

Of special and personal significance, Dr. Chi Patel and his wife, Reena, founded Lucan’s Lions after their son, Lucan, was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. They wanted to find a way to give back, knowing how costly treatments and drug therapies can be. The main mission of Lucan’s Lions is two-fold. 1) to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and its local affiliates and 2) to provide valuable resources that may be otherwise unavailable to local children and their families recently diagnosed with cancer. Specifically, those at Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital and the St. Jude Affiliate Clinic in Charlotte.

“Carolina Pharmacy Group’s unwavering commitment to their patients, employees and community, along with their remarkable generosity, makes me proud to present them with the 2024 NCRMA Retailer of the Year award,” said NCRMA President and General Counsel Andy Ellen.

Along with Carolina Pharmacy, Tanger Inc. was also honored as a 2024 Retailer of the Year.

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About the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association

The North Carolina Retail Merchants Association (NCRMA) is a nonprofit trade association organized in 1902 to improve the business climate for retailers in North Carolina. Over 100 years later, NCRMA remains the voice of the retail industry for North Carolina. NCRMA represents the interests of individual merchants before the General Assembly and serves as a vital link to state government. Its credibility lies in its longevity and commitment to serving the ever-changing needs of its members. The Association’s membership includes more than 25,000 stores from across the state whose business represents 75 percent of North Carolina’s retail sales volume.  NCRMA serves both large and small retailers from multi-state chains to local “mom and pops” and all types of merchants including antique, apparel, art, automotive, book, carpet, department, drug, electronics, floral, furniture, grocery, hardware, jewelry, paint and variety stores. For more information, visit www.ncrma.org.

Carolina Pharmacy was named 2024 Retailer of the Year by NCRMA. Pictured are (L-R) Dr. Vipul Patel, Carolina Pharmacy CEO and CFO, Andy Ellen, NCRMA President and General Counsel, and Dr. Chirag Patel, Carolina Pharmacy COO and Brand Ambassador

Author: Ann Edmondson