Tick Klock marks 50 years of Johnson ownership

Lloyd and Mark Johnson stand at the counter of the Tick Klock pharmacy. Lloyd and his wife Joyce purchased Tick Klock Drug in 1966, and Mark took over the business in 1987.

Tick Klock Drug has been a Main Street fixture in Colfax since the 1930s, and it has now been under the ownership of the Johnson family for 50 years.

Lloyd Johnson arrived in Colfax with his wife, Joyce, and their four children in 1966 after purchasing Tick Klock Drug from Lawrence Klock.

“Everyone called him ‘Tick,’” said Johnson. “He started the business in the late ‘30s.”

Lloyd Johnson had been working as a pharmacist in Spokane after graduating from the University of Washington, and he and Joyce had been looking to get into the pharmacy business in the 1960s.

“We looked at a number of them because I wanted to go out on my own,” said Lloyd. “We bought this one because of the school system.”

“Dad always said the Colfax school system was the best,” said Mark Johnson, oldest of the four Johnson children. The others are Bryan, Bruce and Lynn. All attended Colfax schools, and all eventually attended Washington State University.

“All of his children are Cougars, but he’s a Husky,” commented Mark.

Bryan Johnson is now a physician at Whitman Medical Group in Colfax. Bruce Johnson is a chemical engineer in Columbus, Ohio, and Lynn is a school teacher in Puyallup.

Mark Johnson studied pharmacy at WSU and married Robyn Bruya, also a Colfax High School graduate. After Mark received his pharmacy degree in 1982, they moved to Walla Walla where he was a pharmacist and she was a teacher at DeSales and Touchet.

“In July of 1987, we came back and bought the business from my parents,” said Mark.

“I retired June 30, 1987,” Lloyd Johnson noted.

The initial plans had Lloyd staying on at the business for a time after his retirement.

“He told me he was going to be here about six months,” said Mark. “And it lasted about three days.”

“I heard the lake calling me,” added Lloyd. “I knew it was going right.”

Lloyd now resides at Hill-Ray in Colfax and spends summers at Lake Pend Oreille, where this summer he logged 700 kokanee catches.

Robyn continued her teaching career at Jennings Elementary in Colfax, where she retired after 24 years.

Mark and Robyn are the third owners of a business that spans nine decades.

“The original Tick Klock Drug was in the location of the Whitman County Library, and when it burned down in the mid-’50s, Tick purchased this building from the Dreifus family,” said Mark. “It used to be a hardware store. Since we’ve expanded it, the site is probably double the original size.”

He estimates the floor space at about 10,000 square feet.

The Dreifus name remains across the front of the building.

Mark said there have been a number of changes to the business since his parents purchased it in 1966. The Tick’s fountain, a popular place for children, was closed in 1975.

“We enlarged the pharmacy a couple of times in the ‘90s,” said Mark. “When dad started, you just basically needed a typewriter and some counter space.”

In 2007, they purchased Cooper law office that adjoined the building on the south side. That space served for years as the Washington Water Power office in Colfax.

Two years ago they purchased the former Glaser’s Jewelry building on the north side of the drug store.

“We enlarged the pharmacy area over there and added additional retail space,” said Mark.

The store expanded into a store space which was the former location of Main Street Books. For many years it was the site of Main Street Fashions.

The Johnsons recently sold half of the Glaser’s building, the portion which housed the jewelry store, to the Davenport law firm of Carpenter, McGuire & DeWulf. They plan to remodel the space into a law office. The firm recently purchased the Libey, Ensley & Nelson practice at Colfax and plans to consolidate the two law offices in the Glaser’s store space.

Gary Libey, senior partner in the long-time Colfax firm, will begin his first term as superior court judge Jan. 9.

Matthew Johnson, Mark and Robyn’s oldest son, has been practicing with Carpenter, McGuire & DeWulf and will practice out of the Colfax office when it opens in January.

Their children are all still living in the area. Their oldest, Angela, is a physical therapist in Moscow. Nathan is attending pharmacy school at WSU, and Rachel is working in business marketing and promotions with King Beverages in Spokane.

Mark said the eventual plan is for Nathan to take over at Tick Klock as a third generation proprietor.

“Nathan is in his third year of pharmacy school,” said Mark. “At some point, he will come back to Colfax to also work in the business. Maybe not the first year or two. That’s kind of the plan.”

Mark also said he hopes to see the Tick Klock staff stay well into the future.

“Our staff is young and enthusiastic,” he said. “Hopefully they will be a part of the community for many years to come.”

Mark said he has enjoyed being part of the health system in Colfax.

“We have a wonderful local health community here,” he said. “The citizens of this area get unbelievable care. Hopefully we can be a part of that.”

Lloyd said he believes one of the reasons Tick Klock has been successful is because of the community feel there.

“One of the bigger things is people like to be called by their name,” he said.

“Hopefully you treat people the way you want to be treated,” added Mark.

When Lloyd and Joyce first went into business 50 years ago, there were a total of four pharmacies in town. Tick Klock is the only one remaining.

“As the other pharmacists were ready to retire, we purchased some of their inventory and they closed out the rest of their business,” said Mark.

Also closing have been several pharmacies in the smaller Whitman County communities.

“Colfax and the surrounding area have been very generous to us,” said Mark. “We mail out a lot of medications to the local communities, and a lot of people when they come into Colfax for other reasons will stop in to shop or get their medicines.”

The health care industry has changed a lot, too, in 50 years.

“Times have changed,” commented Lloyd.

“Health care has changed totally,” said Mark. “Every aspect of healthcare from medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, pharmacy. You name it, it’s changed. Every professional has had to adjust to it.”

Insurance and medicine have been big changes to the industry, said Mark.

“The profession has changed so much. There’s been so many new classifications of medicines that have come out,” he said. “And people didn’t really have insurance for prescriptions. Now I’d say 95 percent have a third-party insurer.”

Costs have changed, too.

“The cost of medications has gotten higher,” said Mark. “You spend a lot of time answering questions about medications and about patient insurance. As with every profession, you just have to keep up with the changes that are taking place.”

Mark said it is important to him to provide education for customers.

“Counseling patients on medications is still a big critical part of what we do,” he said. “We want to make sure patients understand what they are taking and what their medications are used for.”

Tick Klock at one time had four employees. That has grown to 20. Lloyd and Mark both said their wives have been a huge part of the business.

“My mother helped,” said Mark. “Robyn and I have been a part of it now.”

“They went with us to the first couple of gift shows we attended,” he said. “My wife’s favorite thing is purchasing children’s toys and gifts.”

Joyce Johnson passed away in November of 2007.

Mark said the retail section of the store has been a big hit. He said some people even come from Pullman or Moscow to shop the retail section because “it’s more of a boutique-type thing.” Lloyd said he has had people from California tell him how great Tick Klock is.

“‘We don’t have anything like this in California,’ they’d tell me,” Lloyd said.

“People traveling are pretty surprised to see a business like this here,” added Mark. “They usually say they don’t see something this nice even in the city.”

To mark the 50th anniversary of Johnson ownership, the store will be open later today, Nov. 3, as part of the First Thursday Holiday Open House event. Mark said they plan customer appreciation events to include refreshments, cake and promotions.

Tick Klock will be open until 7 p.m. tonight.