Where Everyone Knows Your Name

For those who frequent the neighborhood shops and eateries at Surrey Center, pharmacist Earl Wright emerges as an iconic figure of the West Augusta gathering place. The secret to becoming a town symbol appears to lie in one’s dreams. Some 40 years into his work as a trusted medicinal provider, Wright is still quick to acknowledge that he has always aspired to own a hometown pharmacy. “It was the only dream I had. And I have realized my dream.”

In this pleasant, blue skies fancy of Wright’s, there are no strangers, which is why nearly everyone who visits Surrey Center Pharmacy is fondly greeted by name. Customers, in turn, chat with one another, often inquiring after family members and offering encouraging words. Lingering conversations are common, even while prescriptions and purchases are processed efficiently.

It is this Rockwell-esque vision that Wright had as a young man growing up in a small town in Georgia, where his school size reveals just how small-town his roots are. “My high-school graduating class was the largest in the history of the high school,” he recalls in a placid tone. “We had 30 people.”

Wright ultimately ventured onto the vast University of Georgia campus where he earned his degree in pharmacy. After graduation, he found his first professional opportunity in Augusta, at the National Hills Pharmacy where he worked in the 1970s. From there, he came to co-manage the Surrey Center Pharmacy and jumped at the chance to own the store in 1994. Though fulfilling his lifelong dream could be a reason for self-satisfaction, Wright humbly acknowledges those who’ve worked alongside him in helping achieve his goal. “You can’t do something like this without having quality people around you,” he says.

He reserves his expressions of pride for his profession and the young people who have worked for him over the years—most of whom have gone on to well-respected careers—some in pharmacy. Wright says he is glad to have played a part helping his many regarded proteges on their way. “While I don’t take full credit for it, I will take a little credit,” he adds with a wry smile.

Though his busy schedule no longer affords him time for extended mentoring, Wright often takes time to talk with young pharmacy students, challenging them to maintain the integrity of their chosen profession. He tells them, “I made it a point in my career to make sure that it stays [as one of the most respected professions] and I want you to take the responsibility that you see that it stays that way.”

As times change, so have the roles of pharmacists, with the local drugstore being replaced by mammoth chain stores and online pharmaceutical outlets. These changes, says the unflappable Wright, pose little threat because the larger companies “lack community investment.”  Despite a reduction of independent pharmacies in the Augusta area from over 40 to just two, Wright is confident there will always be a place for the local drugstore where neighbors see familiar faces in the aisle and behind the counter.

“What has been created here is a neighborhood atmosphere where everybody knows everybody,” Wright says.  “People like to be recognized and they like somebody to take an interest in them.”

Peering out watchfully from the neatly stocked pharmacy shelves and calling a welcome to his customers, Earl Wright has been that somebody for the past 40 years.