They will offer 20% off most items in the store, some free product samples, a giveaway and light refreshments.

The store is owned by Jordan and Brooke Marchetti, who purchased it from Steve and Mary Jane Roell in 2024. Jordan has worked at the pharmacy since 2013. He started as an intern, later became a staff pharmacist, manager, part owner in 2022 and now full owner.

In the past couple years they have placed more focus on alternatives to medication.

“That is something we have been expanding and will continue to expand on. That’s one of the best services we can provide for our community — keeping people healthy, preventing people from needing medication by offering alternatives before you do,” he said. “We’re a pharmacy where we want you to come to get off your medication. We want to provide you with alternatives, we want to provide you with information, empower you to take control of your own path, to guide you to a healthier you.”

The unique painted back entrance to the Drug Store in the Midtown Mall in Iron Mountain. The Drug Store will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an open house on June 11-12. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

Sales Floor Manager Jane Podgornik agrees. “We have a huge following in that department,” she said. They have a large array of non-toxic and hypo-allergic items for a number of different health perspectives, such as for women or children.

Podgornik, who has been at the store about 15 years total, has increased the gifts portion of the store, which has a great variety — children’s items, religious items, jewelry, clothing and home decor, including Marchetti Timber Touch home products made by his parents.

They have begun selling fresh flowers from local flower farmers and have expanded their selection of books. There are U.P.-related items that are popular with tourists in the summer.

One of the big sellers is a healthier candy that is dye free and has lower sugar.

“We try to carry something for everybody, with price point, too,” she said.

Additional household gifts and food items are available in Presents of Mine, which is also operated by The Drug Store. It is adjacent to the Drug Store. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

Marchetti said another new service they started last fall is Northern Compounding. Compounding is the process of mixing, altering or combining ingredients to create a customized drug tailored to a patient’s specific medical needs.

“We compound different oral medications together for different delivery systems — whatever the doctor wants us to do. We’re making things that aren’t commercially available,” he explained, adding not all pharmacies provide that option.

They also do pet medications and a lot of dermatology products, he said.

Marchetti said he has seen a significant amount of change in the industry, especially in the past five years.

“Demand is constantly increasing. The Baby Boomers are getting to the age now where many of them are on several medications,” he said.

Jordan Marchetti, owner of the Drug Store in Iron Mountain, shows off his 2026 Pharmacist of the Year award from the Michigan Society of Community Pharmacists. (Submitted photo)

Marchetti doesn’t just advocate for ways to make customers healthy, he’s also trying to make changes in the industry. For this he received the 2026 Pharmacist of the Year award from the Michigan Society of Community Pharmacists.

“Insurance companies, they own what’s called a pharmacy benefit manager, who negotiates contracts with all pharmacies — independent, team, grocery, and mail order pharmacies — and they also compete in that space, The insurance companies own pharmacies, so they are competing with us. They are vertically integrated into large conglomerates who are more or less attempting to push other sectors of pharmacies out of business. So that’s the advocacy part of the award,” he said. “Trying to advocate for change in the insurance industry so we can get on a more even footing or even eliminate them from owning and operating pharmacies. Anytime a competitor can audit you and recoup money from you, it’s not a good thing.”

They employ 72 people in three locations, which also include pharmacies in Norway and Crystal Falls.

The Drug Store is at 1112 S. Stephenson Ave. in Iron Mountain. They are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. They had an entrance through the mall and also an entrance in the back for access when the mall is closed.

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The Drug Store in the Midtown Mall has added more items to its children's section. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

Marguerite Lanthier can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 85242, or mlanthier@ironmountaindailynews.com.