Peoples Pharmacy Founder Bill Swail and his daughter, Jeneen Schloz, expanded Peoples to four locations.[/caption]

Peoples Pharmacy owner Bill Swail uses one word to describe his company: unique.

Peoples is a locally owned pharmacy that offers consultations, chiropractic adjustments, testing and prescription compounding in four locations throughout Austin. It also has wellness centers at two of its four locations.

Swail said he launched the company in 1980 after seeing the pharmaceutical industry lacked a “sustainable medical system.”

He said he wanted to build a place where people could get personalized care and attention while receiving holistic and natural medicinal advice.

When customers enter Peoples, they are greeted by wellness specialists, nutritionists and other holistic practitioners trained in treatment plans to recommend for various ailments.

Staffers working the floor have either degrees or certifications centered around nutrition to help customers find the medications right for them.

“The amount of knowledge that’s on the floor—you’re not going to find it anywhere else,” said Swail’s daughter, Jeneen Schloz.

Many of Peoples’ products are nutritionals, or natural supplements that include vitamins, minerals, herbs and food supplements.

Peoples Pharmacy Zulma Gregory (left), a Peoples wellness specialist and applied clinical nutritionist, assists Austin resident Astrum Lucis.[/caption]

Peoples also offers free weekly seminars and workshops to educate both patients and physicians on a broad range of health topics.

Swail, now 74 years old, also hosts a weekly radio show, during which he interviews medical practitioners and health-related authors.

He said customers frequently tell him they “cannot leave Austin, because there’s no Peoples” outside the city and uses the tagline “Austin’s favorite pharmacy” to describe the business.

Schloz said Peoples Pharmacy has always been at the forefront of modern health movements, such as burning all of the pharmacy’s cigarette inventory and refusing to restock.

“We haven’t found a store yet that does things the way we do,” Swail said.

In 2003, Peoples opened its north location on US 183 near RM 620.

Although that location does not offer a Peoples Deli, it does have a wellness center at which customers can visit with a chiropractor, get a massage or acupuncture treatment, or sit in the infrared sauna.

Customers may also have testing done for bone density, cholesterol, diabetes, food sensitivity, osteoporosis and bio impedance analysis, which looks for a person’s percentage of body fat and muscle.

“Its just an expansion of what we were already doing in the stores,” Schloz said.