Page 46 - Harnett Life Winter 2018

Coats Pharmacy “A Tradition

By Rick Myers of Caring”

One major advantage to the idyllic life we live here in Har- drive and work ethic live on in Diana Smith Lischin, cur-
nett County is the small-town atmosphere we’ve all grown rent owner and pharmacist of Coats Pharmacy, who hap-
up knowing. While lives move at such a hectic pace in pens to be his daughter. Growing up as the daughter of the
many larger communities, here we’ve managed to hang on town pharmacist, Diana spent summers working with her
too many of the ways and habits that are so often lost in father at the pharmacy, as well as holidays and any other
those bustling metro areas. times she wasn’t in school. So, I guess it was no surprise
to most folks when she chose to follow in her dad’s foot-
This trend is nowhere more evident than in Coats, where steps.Diana graduated from the University of North Caro-
everyone seems to know everyone else and loyalty and lina Pharmacy School in 1986, and after a brief relocation
friendliness still means something. At Coats Pharmacy to the Northeast US, returned to Coats in 1988 to work
these ways are rooted in good, old-fashioned tradition. full-time at the pharmacy. Diana has continued to grow
and nurture the business her dad loved since his death in
Serving Coats since 1980, Coats Pharmacy has been a 2001, and assumed full ownership in 2005.
strong staple of the community since it was founded by
Donald Judd Smith. Located at the corner of East Wash- Over the years Coats Pharmacy has grown to include not
ington and McKinley Streets, the original Coats Pharma- only the full-service pharmacy, but a thriving gift shop as
cy was nothing more than a gutted and remodeled mobile well. With new growth there is always the need for addi-
home that was repurposed for the business. After a year of tional help, and in addition to Diana, Coats Pharmacy has
diligent work, Smith purchased property for a new loca- grown to include two full-time pharmacists, one part-time
tion, right down the street next to Carlie C’s IGA, where the pharmacist and sixteen additional employees, all with
pharmacy has resided since. one goal in mind, “Serving You!”. In addition, Diana’s
husband Brian and daughters Elyssa and Mahlon are very
Donald Smith has since passed away, but fortunately his much involved in the pharmacy in various capacities.

Page 46 Harnett Life ~ Winter 2018