A Family Affair

A longtime staple in the community, Sigler Pharmacy continues to grow and expand its services to keep up with ever-changing times.

Jeff Sigler outside their newest location on Vermont and 10th

Tucked into the heart of Lawrence and beyond, Sigler Pharmacy has built a reputation that goes well beyond filling prescriptions. For 20-plus years, this locally rooted pharmacy has blended small-town familiarity with modern care—offering personalized service, trusted health advice and a steady presence for generations of residents who value being known by name as much as being cared for by expertise.

What started as a single branch on Sixth Street has grown to three locations, with a location in a medical building in Lenexa and the Vermont Street pharmacy joining the franchise during the last seven years.

Suffice it to say, Sigler Pharmacy and its 30 employees—it started in 2005 with Sigler and one other employee—has developed itself into Lawrence’s hometown pharmacy.

“I’m a block and a half away from where I started,” says Sigler, referring to the since-closed Raney’s Drug Store, where he started his career as a pharmacist way back in 1984. “It’s great that we’ve been able to provide this kind of service to the people in this community. We have a lot of customers who walk here. We do vaccine clinics all throughout the area—all the way over to St. Louis, actually. We have customers who have been with us from the start. It’s been great.”

In 2025, Sigler Pharmacy received a Lawrence Business Magazine Foundation Award as one of the top growing businesses in the area.

“That was a big deal for us; any kind of publicity is helpful,” Sigler says. “When we won the award for opening the business here (on Vermont) … our business has steadily grown since.”

In addition to small-town-like, personal, caring service, Sigler Pharmacy has remained relevant by constantly staying on top of ever-evolving pharmaceutical trends and regulations. When one thinks of a local pharmacy, it might go no further than a place to pick up prescription medications at a counter or drive-through window. But Sigler offers services ranging from vaccinations to a wide selection of over-the-counter supplies, in addition to basic favorites like custom lymphedema compression stockings, mobility rentals such as wheelchairs and walkers, and nonmedical items like greeting cards, candy, even Cashmere popcorn. The downtown location has recently ventured into compounding, which mixes and packages medications that don’t originally come prepackaged. Compounded medications can be custom-packed to suit the specific needs of patients.

“It could be for pets,” Sigler says. “Or it can be customized for a patient in the form they can take. The philosophy is, medicine doesn’t work if you don’t take it right. We package so that it’s easier for people to take.”

The pharmacy also has a delivery service for customers lacking means of transportation to pharmacy locations.

“We need to find our niches,” he says. “We want to look for things that other people don’t do.”

Sigler Pharmacy on Vermont – Trent Scott, PharmD, Pharmacy Manager; Jeff Sigler; and Braden Sides, Pharmacy Intern

Beginnings and Business

Born in Independence, Missouri, and raised in Olathe, Kansas, Sigler headed to Emporia State University following high school to begin his studies in prepharmacy. After three years there, he transferred to The University of Kansas (KU) and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in 1984. He would go on to earn a doctor of pharmacy degree from KU in 2019. After working part time as a student pharmacist at Raney’s, he soon became full time there, where he stayed for 10 years before moving over to manage the pharmacy at a Hy-Vee grocery store for the next 10 years.

While in pharmacy school, Sigler organized a fundraiser for his professional fraternity, for which he wrote, designed and published study cards for pharmacy students preparing for exams. The fundraiser turned out to be a huge success, so after graduation, Sigler and a classmate, Brent Flanders, officially started their own business—SFI Medical Publishing—in 1985. They started self-publishing using a Macintosh computer in 1986 and, the next year, went a step further and opened their own Mac computer store.

SFI Medical Publishing to this day still publishes and ships out pharmacy study guides for sale across the United States.

“When I got into some other businesses, it made me get interested in owning my own pharmacy,” Sigler says. “It gave me a business background. I knew what to do and what not to do.”

He says he was approached by local doctor and friend, Kevin Stuever, whose practice was constructing a new building, in 2005 and was asked if he’d be interested in opening a pharmacy. He said yes, and the first Sigler Pharmacy was born.

“With ownership … ” he says. “As a sign on Harry Truman’s desk says, ‘The buck stops here.’ You get inundated; you have to be a jack-of-all-trades, especially at first. Then, you eventually can start delegating.”

Sigler says he learned a lot about running a successful business in a short time, including the biggest realization of all: “It’s all about tracking financials and customer service,” he says. “You can have a solid business plan, but without good customer service, it’s not going to work. And you can have great customer service, but without good financials, it won’t work. You need to have both to make a business run successfully.”

Sigler found that formula quickly and, in 2007, opened a second pharmacy at the Lawrence Family Practice Center, on West 18th Street off Wakarusa. In 2019, he was offered and took over a pharmacy in a medical building in Lenexa. Four years later, having survived all the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, he took over Medical Arts Pharmacy on Sixth Street, near LMH Health.

“When we took over that, the plan was to move to this building (at 10th and Vermont),” he says. “We moved here in January 2024 and closed the location we opened in ’07 in June 2024.”

Although Sigler recently reached retirement age, he says he’s marching full steam ahead, always looking for growth and new business.

“I’m blessed with a great staff,” he says. “It started with me and one other person. Today, I have 30 employees.”

In This Together

above: Sigler is one of the few local pharmacies that can make compounds

Another blessing, Sigler says, is that great staff he speaks of includes all the members of his immediate family—wife, Suzi, daughter, Melissa Sigler Porter, and son, Andrew. All three are pharmacy technicians who help with the business where needed. Suzi fills in whenever a tech is needed at a vaccination clinic or where there are holes in the schedule. Melissa is a tech at the Lenexa location and oversees Sigler’s vaccine program throughout Kansas and Missouri. Andrew has a business background and, in addition to working as a tech, also handles the business’s accounting.

Jeff Sigler says it’s “awesome” having his family closely involved in the business.

“I have friends that have kids doing really well, but they live far away, on the coasts, and don’t get to see them often,” he says.

He especially remembers a COVID clinic held a few years ago at Theatre Lawrence where Suzi and Andrew performed check-in procedures, and Jeff and Melissa gave shots.

“It was just us four,” Sigler says. “I remember it being pretty cool that we were providing this service. It was kind of fun.”

Suzi Sigler agrees having herself and the children involved in the pharmacy has its benefits.

“It’s not like we’re all together much of the time,” she says. “But it’s a very nice perk to have the kids here. Probably the only drawback is when we all want to go on vacation together. It takes a lot of people away.”

Sigler knows, however, that his business is well-covered because of an extended family of pharmacists and employees who have been with him for years. Trent Scott, PharmD, a pharmacist at the Vermont location, started with the company as a student in 2011. Alyson Mitchell, a pharmacy tech at the Sixth Street location, has been with Sigler even longer, moving away a couple times but returning.

“Of our two pharmacists in Lenexa, one worked for me as a student and another did a pharmacy rotation in school,” Sigler says. “At Sixth Street, two of three students we had did rotations.

“When we find someone we like, we hold onto them,” he adds.

Haley Petrick, PharmD and a pharmacist at the downtown location, says, “We’re all just kind of family. We know all our patients. It gives us a small-town feeling. We try to give access to things other places don’t offer in town.”

“It’s definitely the relationships we have with the employees and the relationship with Jeff and Suzi that make all the difference here,” Scott adds. “If I have any issues with anything, I know I can go straight to Jeff. They do a great job of balancing what’s best for employees and patients.”

Jeff Sigler in his tiny office

Looking to the Future

Sigler and Sigler Pharmacy have no plans of slowing down anytime soon. In fact, they’re constantly looking for avenues to expand business and remain ahead of upcoming trends or governmental regulatory updates.

That begins with the aforementioned expansion in the pharmacy’s compounding capabilities. In the basement of the Vermont Street building are four sterile, properly vented rooms specifically designed for mixing medications and custom-packaging them to fit patient needs.

“We’re expanding that business; that’s our goal,” Sigler says. “We’ve brought (the facilities) up to (U.S. Pharmacopeia) standards.”

Scott, who is directing the compounding initiatives, adds, “It’s been a learning experience. It’s a challenge I’m excited to see through. It gives us a product not many pharmacies can offer or choose to offer. This allows us to continue to grow and put out great products.”

Sigler says he’s also looking at expanding vaccine clinics as well as offer more custom-packaging. He says states have relaxed regulations regarding “test and treat,” so there are plans on expanding services where Sigler pharmacists can test for something like COVID or strep throat, and provide limited treatments on-site.

“There are plans for further growth, but I can’t say what they are at this time,” he says. “We’re working out details with a friend looking to sell his business.”

Sigler recently turned 65 and says he’s cut back his time behind the counter.

“I mainly help out where needed,” he says. “I think the staff and my kids will be interested in taking over at some point. I’m just being proactive thinking about what we need to do to stay relevant and successful. I’m working at it.”

Scott, for one, says the staff doesn’t expect the boss to be riding off into the sunset in the foreseeable future.

“Jeff’s always talking about retiring,” Scott says, “but it’s a pipe dream, I think. He loves his role in Lawrence and the community.

“I don’t know what my role is going to be (in the future), but I don’t see myself going anywhere else,” he adds.

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