The Apothecary Shoppe

Address: 82 1100 East, Suite 104

Telephone: 801-521-6353

Website: apothecaryshoppeut.com

District: East Central

 

“People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” For Trevor DeMass, owner of The Apothecary Shoppe, those words are not simply something he repeats. They are the way he practices pharmacy. Born and raised in Murray, Utah, Trevor grew up loving sports and music. He played basketball, football, and baseball, but it was the bagpipes that became, as he described it, “more than a hobby.”

For over twenty-five years, Trevor played with the Salt Lake Scots Pipe Band, performing at weddings, funerals, parades, and competitions. Music remains central to his family today. His wife, Caitlin, whom he first met while serving a mission in the Netherlands and Belgium, is a violinist, and their four boys are now trying their hands at piano, guitar, drums, violin, and even a little bit of bagpipes.

Pharmacy was part of Trevor’s life from the beginning. His father, Kevin DeMass, was the first in his family to go into healthcare. After attending the University of Utah and becoming a pharmacist, Kevin worked for Smith’s before a pharmacist and pharmacy owner named Terry Frank noticed him. Terry had started several independent pharmacies around Utah and was looking for people who understood how to connect with customers. He saw that in Kevin, who Trevor described as charismatic and deeply people oriented. “That changed my dad’s life,” Trevor said.

The Apothecary Shoppe has now been on the Holy Cross Hospital Salt Lake campus for fifty-three years, moving from building to building over time. Kevin began working there in the 1990s, eventually purchasing the pharmacy from Terry in 1999 and running it for nearly three decades. In June 2024, Trevor bought the business from his father. Kevin now works as COO for WSPC, a group purchasing organization that helps independent pharmacies across the country, but he still lends Trevor a hand whenever he can.

Trevor’s own path began early. He remembers coming in to help clean the pharmacy when he was twelve, and by sixteen, after getting his driver’s license, he became the delivery driver and clerk. By his senior year of high school, he was already taking pharmacy technician courses through Salt Lake Community College. After passing his exams, he became a licensed pharmacy technician right after graduation.

First, however, Trevor chose to serve his two-year mission in 2008. Upon his return to Utah, he studied exercise and sports science at the University of Utah. Throughout those years, he continued working at The Apothecary Shoppe and quickly realized that pharmacy school was where he was headed. “Exercise and sports science spoke to me more than biology or chemistry,” he said. He then entered the university’s four-year Doctor of Pharmacy program, completing his degree in May 2017. By the end of July, he had passed his boards and was back behind the counter as a licensed pharmacist.

Trevor quickly discovered that the work was never only about medications. “My favorite part of my job, by far, is just being able to speak to people on an individual basis. One by one, trying to help people.”

That one-on-one care is what defines The Apothecary Shoppe. Trevor calls it an independent pharmacy, but customers often call it “the Cheers of pharmacy,” because the staff knows people by name. They know their families, their stories, their struggles, and, often, their pets. “You’re not just a number,” Trevor said. “We truly care about you and your family. When you come into our pharmacy, this is a safe place.”

The pharmacy fills prescriptions for everything from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, COPD, pediatrics, and dermatology to its specialties in HIV prevention and treatment, mental health, and substance use disorders. The Apothecary Shoppe also offers immunizations, medication adherence packaging, blister packs, med boxes, free delivery within much of the Salt Lake area, and mail service for patients throughout Utah. For people managing ten, twenty, or even thirty medications, Trevor and his team organize everything so that the process feels less overwhelming.

The pharmacy also carries supplements, vitamins, first aid products, cough and cold remedies, CBD and wellness products, food and beverages, stuffed animals, and a pet section. The staff loves it when customers bring their dogs inside, where treats are waiting at the gate. Many of the dogs head straight there, already knowing what awaits them. “We love our pet patients,” Trevor said. The Apothecary Shoppe can also fill certain veterinary medications, often helping pet owners save money compared with purchasing directly from a veterinarian.

Though the pharmacy sits inside a medical building and has no exterior signage, word of mouth has carried it for decades. Its relationships with providers inside, including cardiology, neurology, internal medicine, orthopedics, and sports medicine, as well as with Holy Cross Hospital, have made The Apothecary Shoppe a trusted resource for patients coming from across the city and beyond.

Trevor is realistic about the pressures facing independent pharmacies. Insurance companies push mail-order options. Online pharmacies promise convenience and lower prices. Some customers ask for his advice, compare costs, and try another route. But many come back. “I have never had the experience that I’ve had anywhere else except your pharmacy,” he has heard them say. For Trevor, the choice is always about what is best for the patient. “If that is what you need to do, then you do that for you and your family,” he tells them.

Still, he believes something essential is lost when people no longer have a relationship with their pharmacist. “Community over competition,” he said, speaking not only about The Apothecary Shoppe, but about other independent pharmacies in Salt Lake as well. He does not want to be the only one. He wants all of them to survive. “Independent pharmacy is absolutely the backbone of pharmacy in our country.”

That sense of community became even more visible during COVID. Chain pharmacies received vaccines first, but when The Apothecary Shoppe was finally able to offer them, people found the pharmacy through vaccine locator tools and came in for the first time. Many transferred their prescriptions afterward. The pandemic also brought curbside pickup, home delivery, medication shortages, frightened patients, and heartbreaking losses. “It was so meaningful to be able to help people at a time when people were totally isolated from everybody.”

The devotion Trevor has for his customers is reflected in the people who work beside him. His sister, Ally, has been there for eighteen years and serves as his lead technician. Other technicians have been there for years as well, and Tiffany, owner of Neighborhood Hive in Sugar House, had worked for Kevin for twenty-six years before stepping away to pursue other ventures. Recently, she returned to work behind the pharmacy counter a few days each week. “I told her that she was an answer to my prayers,” Trevor said. “Everybody knows her. She knows everybody.”

More than five decades after The Apothecary Shoppe first opened, and nearly thirty years after Kevin took ownership, Trevor is carrying forward the same deeply personal kind of care. Humble, thoughtful, and deeply devoted to the people who trust him, he is a pharmacist, a son, a husband, a father, a bagpiper, and someone who believes that relationships matter. “I really wish that everybody knew that what matters to us is people,” Trevor said. “You matter to us. We are here for you.”