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.

Why does Boone keep getting certain types of development—and why do some highly requested businesses never appear? Jamie flips the script and puts James in the hot seat for a wide-ranging discussion about the market forces shaping Boone’s commercial landscape.

They examine the cycles behind car washes and hotel development, the relationship between tourism and national brands, and the reasons some commercial locations experience frequent tenant turnover. The conversation also covers traffic, infrastructure, wages, childcare and practical advice for entrepreneurs evaluating a Boone location.

In this episode:

• What drives clusters and cycles of car wash development
• Why Boone continues to attract hotel investment
• How local businesses and national chains compete for space and customers
• Why certain commercial properties experience repeated turnover
• How access, traffic and infrastructure constrain development

Join the conversation: What type of commercial development does Boone need most and what location would serve it best?

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.

Boone is growing, but what should healthy growth look like for the people and businesses already here? David Jackson, President and CEO of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, joins James and Jamie for Boone Tea’s first guest conversation.

David discusses Boone’s identity, Appalachian State University’s regional influence, housing affordability, infrastructure, and the relationships required to support a healthy economy. The conversation also explores innovation and the potential for healthcare and life sciences to expand the High Country’s economic base.

In this episode:

• What makes Boone’s economy and community identity distinctive
• How App State influences business, culture and innovation
• Why workforce, housing and infrastructure are inseparable
• The tension between modernization and preserving local character
• Where healthcare and life sciences could create future opportunity

Join the conversation: What would healthy economic growth in Boone look like to you five years from now?

Links:

• Boone Area Chamber of Commerce
• NCInnovation

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.

Commercial real estate shapes the places where Boone works, shops, eats, and gathers, but the process behind those properties is often misunderstood. James and Jamie break down how the industry actually works and why most transactions require a team of specialized professionals.

Following a recap of James’s experience at ICSC Las Vegas, the conversation covers property types, brokerage specialties, leasing and sales, appraisers and lenders, lease structures, valuation, and the relationships that move a transaction from an idea to a completed deal.

In this episode:

• The major commercial property types and brokerage specialties
• How leasing differs from purchasing commercial property
• The practical differences among gross, modified gross and triple-net leases
• How income, risk and market conditions influence property value
• Why relationships and coordination matter throughout a transaction

Join the conversation: What part of commercial real estate would you like James and Jamie to explain in greater detail?

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.

Boone residents often ask why a favorite retailer has not opened in the High Country. The answer involves far more than whether people say they would shop there.

James and Jamie explain how retailers evaluate population, income, customer behavior, traffic, logistics, franchise territories, available sites, and construction costs before entering a market. They also examine what Boone’s position as a smaller, tourism-influenced market means for national brands and local entrepreneurs.

In this episode:

• The demographic and consumer data retailers use to evaluate Boone
• Why population, income and logistics matter in tertiary markets
• How franchise relationships influence real estate decisions
• The opportunities local businesses can pursue when national retailers stay away

Join the conversation: Which retailer or type of business is Boone missing and what makes you believe the market would support it?

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.

Downtown Boone is more than a collection of King Street storefronts. It is a business district, gathering place and important part of the community’s identity—and keeping it healthy requires coordination among merchants, property owners and local government.

James and Jamie explore the businesses, organizations and public investments shaping downtown, including the Downtown Boone Development Association, the Municipal Service District and the North Carolina Main Street program. They also discuss the Green and Wilcox building, the Howard Street revitalization project and the value of events such as Boonerang.

In this episode:

• How downtown businesses contribute to Boone’s economic vitality
• What the DBDA and Municipal Service District do
• How public projects can influence access, investment and redevelopment
• Why independent retailers give downtown its distinctive character

Join the conversation: What business, building or public improvement has made the greatest difference in Downtown Boone?

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:

• Downtown Boone, NC
• Boonerang