For more than a century, Boone Drug has adapted to enormous changes in healthcare while remaining committed to the relationships and values that earned the community’s trust. Corey Furman, President of Boone Drug, joins James and Jamie to share how the company grew from one downtown Boone pharmacy into a regional independent pharmacy organization serving communities throughout the High Country and beyond.

Corey discusses the challenges facing independent pharmacies, the often-unseen influence of pharmacy benefit managers, and the essential role pharmacists play in rural healthcare. He also reflects on Boone Drug’s at-cost COVID testing program, the importance of treating every customer with dignity and respect, and why long-term community relationships matter more than short-term gains.

In this episode:

• How Boone Drug has evolved since its founding in 1919
• Why relationships and personal service remain central to the company
• The pressures pharmacy benefit managers place on independent pharmacies and their customers
• How local pharmacists expand access to healthcare in rural communities
• Why Boone Drug views community involvement as part of its identity
• How enduring values can guide a business through changing technology, services, and customer needs

Join the conversation: What local business has earned your trust across generations and what has allowed that relationship to endure?

Follow Boone Tea for thoughtful conversations about the people, places, and decisions shaping Boone and the High Country. Help us broaden the conversation: share this episode and tell us what we should explore next.

Links:

• Boone Drug

Appalachian State University is one of Boone’s most important economic and cultural institutions, but its growth also affects housing, traffic, infrastructure, development and the cost of doing business throughout the community.

James and Jamie examine how App State and Boone have grown together, how university activity influences the local population and economy, and which businesses and real estate sectors benefit most. They also explore the pressures associated with student housing, workforce needs and campus development and what a healthier partnership between the university and the Town of Boone could look like.

In this episode:

• How App State influences Boone’s population and economy
• Which businesses and real estate sectors benefit from university activity
• How student housing, workforce needs and infrastructure affect the community
• The changing development relationship between App State and the Town
• What greater cooperation and shared planning could accomplish

Join the conversation: Is App State’s growth creating more opportunity or more pressure for Boone and what should the university and Town of Boone address together?

Follow Boone Tea for thoughtful conversations about the people, places, and decisions shaping Boone and the High Country. Help us broaden the conversation: share this episode and tell us what we should explore next.

Links:

• App State Facts
• GuideAlong App

Corrections: The App State reservoir is located off of Rainbow Trail, not Winkler's Creek. App State beach Michigan on September 1, 2007, so no not 25 years, but feels like it.

Summer brings visitors, events and outdoor activity to the High Country but its economic influence reaches far beyond hotels and restaurants. James and Jamie follow a visitor’s day from breakfast to bedtime to show how tourism supports businesses, properties and jobs throughout Boone.

They explore how outdoor recreation affects business-location decisions, why seasonal demand creates both opportunity and risk, and how parking, labor and infrastructure influence the visitor experience. The episode closes with a look at how tourism and recreation may shape Boone’s commercial landscape in the years ahead.

In this episode:

• How visitor spending moves through Boone’s local economy
• Why outdoor recreation influences commercial locations and investment
• The opportunities created by indoor and year-round recreation
• How seasonality, workforce availability, parking and congestion affect businesses
• What future tourism growth could mean for commercial real estate

Join the conversation: Which summer activity, event or business best represents the High Country experience?

Follow Boone Tea for thoughtful conversations about the people, places, and decisions shaping Boone and the High Country. Help us broaden the conversation: share this episode and tell us what we should explore next.