VIDALIA — George Book wants your pharmacy experience to feel like home.

Book — a Monterey native who has practiced as a pharmacist since 1994 — had the grand opening for Book’s Pharmacy last week, an independent pharmacy located at 1158 Logan Sewell Road just outside Vidalia.

“I have worked in this area for a long time, and I know a lot of the customers,” he said. “ I felt like there was a need for a pharmacy that they could work for the customers the way they wanted.”

Book graduated from Monterey High School and earned a degree in pharmacy from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in December 1994. He started work as a pharmacist the week after graduation, practicing at Eckerd — later CVS — for 15 years before moving to the Vidalia Wamart pharmacy for five years.

He also worked at Vaughn’s City Drug in Ferriday while waiting for his Vidalia-area business to be built.

“When Colvin’s Pharmacy closed in Ferriday after they were bought out to (a chain), I saw that a lot of people had really loved it because it gave good customer service,” he said.

“I decided to open this (independent) pharmacy because, while you can personally give the best customer experience you can when working for a chain, you are somewhat limited in what you can do if you notice something that needs to be changed or in other ways you may be able to help a customer.”

One of the ways Book aims to help customers is to reduce their waiting time as much as possible. Part of that is accomplished with a new computer system that can speed things up and let customers get in and out within 15 to 20 minutes.

“With this system, we can scan the back of a person’s driver’s license and it pulls up all the information on their license,” Book said. “All we have to enter for them is their phone number, allergies and insurance.”

The computer system also acknowledges Apple Pay.

While customers wait, they don’t have to spend their time looking at shelves of over-the-counter medicines.

The shop has a selection of house wares and gifts — including serving platters, baby gifts, candles, jewelry and handmade soaps, among other things —that take up approximately two-thirds of its space.

Dana White and BeeBee Tiffee, who formerly owned Martha’s Vineyard in Natchez, helped the Book’s team choose what non-medical gifts and wares they wanted to offer.

“They were very instrumental in helping with the home décor,” Book said. “They even went to market with us.”

But for the customer who isn’t looking for a gift, the wait can be whiled away at the pharmacy’s in-house soda Shoppe, which offers sodas, Blue Bell ice cream and other small snacks.

The business is a family affair, and all of the employees have Concordia Parish roots.

Book’s wife, TeLina — who is also a teacher at Monterey High School — is joining him in the endeavor, as are his mother, Jeanette Book, and mother-in-law, Linda Wheeler.

Book’s son, Trey, is a 2014 graduate from Monterey High School and is currently studying pre-pharmacy at the University of Louisiana at Monroe with plans to return to Concordia Parish and carry on the family business. His daughter Bailey — a high school senior — plans to return to Concordia Parish after studying biology and attending medical school to become a doctor.

Veronica Stacker, a certified pharmacy technician who has 20 years of experience, and Kendall Lipsey, a Monterey native and recent graduate of LSU, likewise join him.

Keeping familiar faces and family around is part of the customer service experience, which Book summed up with the with a look around the store.

“I want them to be able to come in and feel like they are at home,” he said.

Book’s Pharmacy can be reached by phone at 318-414-2616, or can be followed on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/24FXLmO.