The demise of the last Hi-School Pharmacy outlet in Vancouver calls to mind the company’s longtime connection to the region. It also generates thoughts about the changing nature of the retail industry.
Company officials announced recently that a store in the Minnehaha area is expected to close by the end of the year. That will mark the end of Hi-School Pharmacy in Vancouver, although the company maintains its headquarters in the city and will continue to operate stores in other locations. Hi-School has 16 pharmacy variety stores and 10 hardware stores in small communities throughout the Northwest, including in Woodland.
But Vancouver long has been associated with Hi-School Pharmacy, dating to the 1925 opening of High School Store near what was then Vancouver High School along Main Street. As The Columbian reported in 2018: “In 1967, pharmacist Steve Oliva, who was 27, bought Hi-School Pharmacy. In the 1970s, Oliva built new stores and purchased others, rebranding them as Hi-School Pharmacy stores. The chain grew to 42 stores in Northern California, Oregon and Southwest Washington before some stores were sold to Walgreen Co. in 2003.”
That makes the announced closure particularly notable to longtime residents, serving as a representation of changing markets.
“It’s a tough retail environment right now,” said Jack Holt, president of Hi-School Pharmacy & Affiliates. “Even in good times when sales were OK, it’s just been a hard climb to make it as a retailer.”
With dozens of outlets, Hi-School Pharmacy is not the stereotypical mom-and-pop retailer. But as a midsized retailer, it faces pressure from national big-box chains that have the power to purchase items in bulk and large advertising budgets to promote those products. Walmart, for example, spent $4.4 billion on advertising in fiscal year 2023.
Holt told The Columbian that other factors have created difficulties in the retail market. He said the Minnehaha store was burglarized several times; most recently, thieves broke down a door to steal three boxes of candy bars. “They just come and take what they want,” he said, “and there’s not much you can do.”
On top of that, online shopping and the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted retailing at all levels. As a 2020 column in The Washington Post noted: “For decades, large businesses have been taking market share from small businesses, and the corporations at the top of the pyramid have been consolidating into ever-bigger megacorporations. In the 1980s, half of retail shopping took place in independent stores; today, it is less than one-quarter.”
Megacorporations often are beneficial for consumers. Their purchasing power can deliver low prices, and their ubiquity can generate the comfort of familiarity.
But they also can diminish a sense of community. Locally owned businesses keep money in the area, promote local entrepreneurs, directly stimulate the region’s economy and are more likely to support local causes. As Forbes.com wrote in 2022: “Small businesses donate 250 percent more than large businesses to local nonprofits and community causes, creating a positive cycle of giving back locally.”
All of that comes to mind as Hi-School Pharmacy prepares to close its last store in its ancestral home of Vancouver. The decision is understandable, the result of multiple market forces beyond the control of the company. But it should lead state and local leaders to explore ways to help local businesses survive in the wake of those forces.
