Italy now has a pharmacy and it is located in the lobby at Dr. John Arkusinski’s office. The owner, Martin Dennis, has been a pharmacist since 1992. He now owns three pharmacies and this one in Italy is his third one. The other two are in North Dallas, (one in Plano and one in Lewisville.)

Dennis lives in Flower Mound and when asked why he chose Italy, he responded, “I was told about the need for a pharmacy in Italy a couple of years ago. I understood there was a thriving medical practice in a rural area with no pharmacy around which sounded like an opportunity for me and I wanted to save everyone the thirty mile round trip drive to Hillsboro or Waxahachie to get their medicine.” He went on to say, "So I came down and talked with Dr. “John” and decided to open the pharmacy. The people here are so nice and friendly and very welcoming. I haven’t met nicer people."

Dennis has been married to his wife Christine for almost seventeen years and they have three children: Jessica-15, Benjamin-13 and Meredith -10. Martin said, “I moved to Texas after I graduated from college from the University of Oklahoma and met my wife while taking the state board exam, she is a pharmacist also and works for Tom Thumb in their pharmacy.”

Martin has not always wanted to be a pharmacist. He started out wanting to join the Army and become a soldier. He explained, “I was born and raised in the military, my Dad was in the Army. When I was a kid a lot of times we were overseas and my Mom would have the young soldiers that didn’t have any families over for the holidays and cook great meals for everyone. They were usually young eighteen, nineteen year old squad mates. I got to sit around and listen to all the war stories. I would just sit down and soak up all these war stories, soldiers are great story tellers. So I grew up wanting to be a soldier.” He went on to say, “My Dad would tell me not to be a soldier, he would say, you are smart, go to college. I was torn, I really wanted to be a soldier but I also wanted to follow the advice of my father so I joined the National Guard in Oklahoma and also attended college. I had a friend, Darrell who was studying to become a pharmacist and suggested I become a pharmacist and after listening to him I thought it was a good idea.”

Dennis explained,“I don’t have a full scale pharmacy, I specialize mainly in medicine. I really want everyone to know that even if your are not a patient of Dr.”John’s" you can still come to see me, it is an open door pharmacy. I carry some over the counter items, like Motrin, Tylenol and Calamine lotion. If Italy grows I might consider buying some land and building a full blown pharmacy with a drive thru. I have been here for a week and so far so good. My long term plan, my goal, is to get the pharmacy up and running and then to hire a local pharmacist. We take almost all of the insurances and medicaid." Martin went on to say, “If I have the prescription in stock you can have it in five minutes, if it has to be ordered, you will have it the next day. Right now the pharmacy is open during clinic hours but as I grow I will probably firm that up to 9:00AM to 6:00 PM.”

So, for all your medicine needs and pharmacy hours call: 972-483-7667. The pharmacy is located in Dr. John Arkusinski’s office lobby at 204 Main St, Italy 76651.