Father, daughter open store together

By Cathy Spaulding
Phoenix Staff Writer

July 22, 2008 12:00 am

— Niki Sykora recalled her first job, working with her father.
“I was probably 8 years old, working at Consumer’s, putting medicines in a sack,” the 1994 Hilldale High School graduate said. “I spent summers working off and on with the drug stores. I enjoyed the atmosphere so much.”
Sykora now is working with her father in a new relationship, as a weekend and part-time pharmacist at her father’s new store, Ernie’s Pharmacy and Wellness Center, 410 S. 32nd St. The store opens today in what used to be a McDonald’s Restaurant.
“This has been a dream for us for a long time, to work together,” Niki Sykora said. “I worked with Dad as a pharmacy tech growing up.”
The Muskogee native earned her pharmacy degree from the University of Oklahoma and was the part of the first pharmacy class to graduate from OU’s Schusterman Center in Tulsa.
“Dad was definitely a big part in my career decision,” she said. “What I like best is being able to give patients another resource for their health care needs. You get to be face to face with patients.”
She said pharmacists are the “most accessible form of health care.”
Ernie Sykora said he looks forward to having his daughter work with him and hopes she can work with him on a more permanent basis once he gets his business settled.
The father is no stranger to Muskogee pharmacy customers. He said he worked at the Consumer’s store that used to be on West Broadway. He also has worked pharmacies at Drug Warehouse, Wal-Mart, Homeland and Walgreens.
He now hopes to offer a more “service-oriented” business as an independent pharmacist.

“Service is going to be where independent pharmacies have an advantage,” he said.
A native of Marietta in far southern Oklahoma, Ernie Sykora also has fond memories of going to the drug store.

Back then, drug stores featured all sorts of things, including soda fountains and cosmetics.
“I was going to be a chemistry and biology teacher, but then I toured the Southwestern College of Pharmacy in Weatherford and liked what I saw,” he said.
The older Sykora earned his degree in 1969 from what is now Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
Sykora said his new business won’t have a soda fountain, but it will have a supply of over-the counter drugs and $1 household cleansers.
The store will feature a regular pharmacy and a compounding pharmacy, in which the drugs are prepared to meet the unique needs of the patient.
Ernie’s also will offer screening for glucose, cholesterol and other areas of health care.

Reach Cathy Spaulding at 918-684-2928 or Click Here to Send Email

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