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Steffen Drug honored for 25 years in business here
HARTINGTON — Steffen Drug Store hit a big milestone in 2024.
Matt and Brenda Steffen's downtown store celebrated 25 years in businesss in 2024. They were h0nored at Sunday's annual Chamber of Commerce banquet with a special plaque commemorating the occasion.
On June 7, 1999, the Hartington couple bought the store from Joe Schulte, whose family had owned and operated it since the 1930s.
Steffen Drug was going to be a temporary name with the intention of making the local store a part of the Medicine Shop franchise. At the time, there were over 2,000 Medicine Shoppe stores in the country, and the Steffens thought they would do well by partnering with the company.
The Medicine Shoppe deal fell through since the Hartington store was 23.6 miles away from the Medicine Shoppe in Yankton, S.D., — 1.4 miles closer than company policy would allow.
Medicine Shoppe was a thriving chain at the time, with over 2000 stores nationwide. They have since fallen on hard times and today there are less than 200 Medicine Shoppe stores acvross the country.
'I thank God every day that it fell through,' Matt said. Buying the store was the perfect opportunity for the young Hartington couple to return home.
Once Joe Schulte had a chance to travel the c0untry for awhile, visiting relatives and taking in the sites, they talked him into renewing his pharmacy license and staying on part time to help out. His early guidance was very helpful.
Joe's assistance was especially helpful in the early 2000s when Matt started coaching the Cedar Catholic basketball team. Joe would fill in for Matt during practice days.
The store has grown a great deal since 1999. When the Steffens took over, the store had two full-time employees — Joe and Connie Kalin — and was filling about 40 presecriptions a day.
Today, the store fills about 140 prescriptions a day and employs three pharmacists, a pharmacy manager, four part-time technicians and two students after school as part-time clerks, One of those pharmacy techs, Connie Kalin, celebrated her 40th year in the store in 2024.
'Connie is great. She's very personable and knows everyone, and she knows almost all the generic drug names for all the brand name drugs,' Matt said.
Matt said any business could not be a success without a great support network. The Steffen Drug Store employees, both current and in the past, have helped to make the store a huge success, he said.
'Brenda and I realize that establishing this business comes down to good people,' he said. 'We definitely have good people working for us, and we have had over the years.'
Besides Kalin, Karen Flamig also works at the store as a certified pharmacy technician, a position she's held for over 15 years, now.
Kirby Gall is another certified pharmacy technician at the store. She joined Steffen Drug about nine years ago.
Diane Nelson, also a certified pharmacy technician, joined the staff about two years ago.
The store's two other pharmacists are Kara Lippert, who came on board about five years ago, and Matt and Brenda's oldest son, Jack, who joined them two years ago.
'Jack has got a lot of information in that brain, a lot of clinical information. He is working hard and learning the business side of the operation, too.'
Steffen also praised former employees, like pharmacist Ashley Dendinger, who now owns and operates the Plainview pharmacy. He also thanked Robin Potts and his mother, Kay Steffen, for all of their past help at the store.
