Visitors to Slocomb often do double takes while driving down South Dalton Street. They see the street’s namesake drugstore with a mural on a brick wall. The inscription reads: “Dalton Pharmacy, Your Pharmacy since 1903.”
The pharmacy has been owned and operated by four generations of Daltons throughout its 122 years. Evidence of the store’s longevity is just beyond the front door.
On display inside is an original cash register, more than a century old, made of brass and other metals long before plastic was a thing. A store mortar and pestle from yesteryear accompanies it.
Black-and-white checkered floors are indicative of the soda fountain of bygone days, where pharmacists mixed ingredients that transformed into Coca-Cola.
Theodore Roosevelt was president, radio was experimental and Slocomb was two years old when Jep P. Dalton opened the store downtown. “He did it to support his brother, C.C. Dalton’s medical practice,” says Joe Dalton, third-generation family pharmacist.
Founding father Jeb died in 1930. His wife, Mantye Hollis Dalton, continued the business as a sundry store until the oldest of her two sons, Charles Hollis Dalton, a 1934 pharmacy graduate from Auburn University, took the reins.
Mantye’s youngest son, Paul Dalton, graduated from Auburn with a pharmacy degree in 1942. After four years in the navy, Paul joined his brother in running the shop.
Charles Dalton died in 1997. Paul ran the store for 60 years until passing it down to his son, Joe Dalton. “In those six decades, Dad never missed a day of work and never complained,” said Joe about his father.
“When I was a kid, the store also sold jewelry, gifts, ice cream, roasted peanuts and more,” recalls Joe. Back then, Slocomb’s school children’s textbooks were issued through the drugstore. Dalton Pharmacy became a hometown icon.
Joe loves to reminisce.
“During school years, I worked the soda fountain,” Joe says. “My standard required the straw to stand in the middle of the milkshake unassisted. Now that’s a milkshake. … In the early days, we sold wristwatches and the little pins to attach a new wrist band when the old one broke off. Today, you just throw away the watch and buy a new one.”
“Our business was and is all about customer service and relationships,” Joe says. “It is critical we keep the small, independent pharmacy in existence, especially for the small communities. The big-box drug stores are not going to come to a small town like Slocomb.”
Joe’s son, Tyler Dalton, is the latest to run the business. He started working at the family’s store during childhood days. “I began as a young pup, working with my grandfather,” he recalls. “I screwed lids on bottles and other tasks, during holidays, summer vacation and after church. I tinkered around the business.”
Tyler is the fourth generation and the seventh family member to receive a college degree in pharmacy.
He explains how a small drugstore in Slocomb, population 2,080, can compete with big-box pharmacies in Dothan, 20 miles away. “They know us and we know them.”
He adds, “We are in their Sunday School classes, attend church together, play sports with them and contribute to local programs. We support our community because it’s our community, too.”
Tyler’s father, Joe, adds, “Years ago, a pharmacist was almost the top of the food chain, maybe even more so than the doctor because everyone had access to the pharmacist. That is not necessarily so with doctors.”
Tyler is emphatic about the importance of hometown pharmacies. “This is a relationship that matters,” he says. “It’s not like ordering a pizza. Your medications are extremely important. One or two wrong moves and you’re taking the wrong medicine and going to the hospital.”
“We have a lot of seniors here in Slocomb that cannot or will not navigate Amazon,” he says. “Many do not have Wi-Fi, and some can’t drive to Dothan.”
Joe agrees, adding, “It is critical we keep the small, independent pharmacy in existence, especially for the small communities. Big-box pharmacies are not coming to a small town like Slocomb, but we have been here for over a century.
“Our customers know the person behind the counter. They ask us questions that they might feel intimidated by if they ask their physician.”
Continuing his dad’s thought, Tyler notes, “We fill their prescriptions, consult their doctors. And often seek alternative medicines on their behalf that are less expensive. At times, we deliver the prescriptions to their homes. We often know the medicines our regular customers need before they ask us.”
Joe recalls earlier times. “Back then, drugstores only handled a handful of in-house made and dispensed medicines. Now there are thousands.” There is also more availability and scope of services such as vaccines, consultation and greater accessibility.
Both men proclaimed that in the early days, drugstores were cash driven. Today they are insurance driven — and that can mean they are being driven out of business.
“In Alabama, we are losing a pharmacy almost every week,” Tyler warns. “They cannot keep losing money. Insurance costs are undercutting us. Prescription costs are extremely expensive.”
He offers a somber statistic. “Over 20% of prescriptions we dispense are sold at a loss. For example, a medicine that costs us $1,000 might be reimbursed $800 by the insurance company. We lose $200.”
Both father and son pharmacists explained that scenario is being played out all over the state.
“We (the state’s small pharmacies) are pushing the Alabama House and Senate for fair legislation. We want to at least be paid the cost of the drug,” says Tyler.
He appreciates the expertise handed down by his ancestors, pharmaceutical training one does not learn in college. He says, “It is an honor to follow in my family’s footsteps.”
Today the family footsteps encompass nine locations. In addition to Slocomb, the Dalton Pharmacy group includes eight pharmacies in southeast and east-central Alabama and a ninth pharmacy in Double Springs in north Alabama.
The Slocomb, Abbeville, Hartford, Troy and Opp stores operate under the Dalton name. The Dadeville, Headland, Luverne and Double Springs locations operate under other names.
“The business is a challenge,” Tyler concedes. He references ever-increasing government regulations, both state and federal, and notes, “This is a tough business to run now.”
But like the Daltons before him, he loves it.
“We must continue the legacy of the small rural town pharmacist,” he says. “It is vital for those who need medicines but cannot travel far for prescriptions.”
Also, so many people are in need and cannot afford medicine. “What do you tell someone who needs a $600 blood thinner and his monthly paycheck is $800? We must find a way to lower prices, and we try to every day.”
Joe and Tyler agree that running a pharmacy is difficult these days. It is a balance between customer relationships, government regulations, insurance mandates and helping people.
But they also agree that local pharmacists are not only convenient, they save lives. Says Tyler, “That is a reason I love this business.”
Emmett Burnett and Jay Hare are freelance contributors to Business Alabama. Burnett is based in Satsuma and Hare in Dothan.
This article appears in the May 2025 issue of Business Alabama.
