Mike Fapore took a long road to call Somerset home

Pharmacist Mike Fapore stands at the counter of the Medicine Shoppe in Somerset Borough. Fapore opened his branch of the franchise in 1996. (Staff photo by Bruce Siwy)


By BRUCE SIWYbruces@dailyamerican.comRating:
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Sunday, January 31, 2010 11:04 PM EST
Mike Fapore’s journey from a sports-oriented youth in Emporium to a business-owning pharmacist in Somerset Borough included plenty of detours.“In high school I didn’t have anything academically that I felt (was my future),” said the 51-year-old owner of the Medicine Shoppe along South Pleasant Avenue. “I just knew I wanted to work around people.”
It was athletics that dominated much of Fapore’s focus during his years at Cameron County High School.
“I was interested in sports growing up and played football, basketball and golf,” he said. “I hunted a little bit, but sort of lost that interest as I got older.”When Fapore graduated in 1976, it was a friend of a friend who got him interested in the medical profession.
He began his time at the University of Pittsburgh attending the Bradford campus. A year later, he was accepted into Pitt’s pharmacy school.Fapore earned his degree in 1982 and accepted a job at Dubois Hospital.“The job was more technical than clinical in nature,” Fapore said.So he moved on after about three years at the hospital, working various retail jobs before ending up near Clarion. His new job was at a pharmacy called McCabe Drug. It was here - in a small town called Brookville - that he met his wife.“Janice was a 4th grade elementary teacher at Brookville,” Fapore said. He added that the two were introduced through one of his patients, who was his future wife’s co-worker.They married in 1989. Three years later Fapore accepted another pharmacy job, this time in his home town of Emporium. And shortly after the 1993 birth of his first child, Pat, he began planning a venture into enterprise.“I just decided - in talking with Janice - that we wanted to do something on our own,” Fapore said.“I don’t and didn’t have a business background. But the Medicine Shoppe is a franchise and they help with that side of it.”He and his wife were determined to open shop in western Pennsylvania. Somerset was among their top choices.Corporate told them that Hollidaysburg - another town that piqued their interest - was too close to another Medicine Shoppe location in Altoona.So Fapore and his growing family relocated to Somerset Borough in the winter 1996 to open their franchise. His second child, Michaela, was born within weeks of the move.“We took a big risk in coming here,” Fapore said. “For the first three years we lived off of savings alone.”Fortunately it didn’t take long for his new town to feel like home.“Emporium is rural, too: People are down to earth, friendly,” he said. “Somerset is the same kind of way.”And his business has expanded considerably over the past 10-plus years. According to Fapore, the Medicine Shoppe now offers diabetes classes, adult immunizations and compounding, a service that involves preparing medicines into child-friendly forms such as lollipops.Fapore said he has no regrets: “My thought has always been if you do the right things and treat people right, everything will take care of itself.”While a member of St. Pete’s Catholic Church, Somerset Rotary and a variety of professional organizations, Fapore said family is his primary focus.He said that they are season ticket holders for Pitt basketball and football games and that they do practically everything together.There is, however, at least one exception.“I’m the only golfer in the family. I just can’t get anyone else interested in it.”