Rick's Medical buys DMES

ROSEBURG, Ore. - Rick's Medical Supply has acquired Douglas Medical Equipment Supply, adding two new locations and expanding its reach to the coast and southern Oregon.

“One thing that's attractive to us right now is they had a hospice business, delivering equipment on the Oregon coast which is two hours to the west,” said Brad Watkins, president. “It's another source of revenue stream for us.”

DMES's location in Roseburg will continue to operate as an HME and will also be home to The Scrubs and More Store, a branch of Rick's, while the North Bend location will be a retail store. DMES's six employees will stay on board, bringing Rick's total to 29 employees.

“The scrubs have been excellent,” said Watkins. “We've been doing it for about two years. It slides in well with DME because we're a small town. We're dealing with referrals on a daily basis, who are also our customers for scrubs. Everybody knows everybody.”

Founded in 1974, Rick's Medical started out selling first aid supplies, strollers and rollaway beds. Forty-four years later, the provider offers a full line of DME and has five locations: three in Roseburg, including The CPAP Store, another branch of Rick's, a hospice warehouse in Medford, and a new retail store in North Bend. The provider also offers products online.

While Rick's ecommerce enabled website hasn't generated a lot of online sales, Watkins says it has directed local customers to its brick-and-mortar stores, translating into phone calls and local deliveries.

“We have Costco and Walgreens and Amazon all competing in retail sales and it's tough,” said Watkins. “But we've been here for 44 years now and hopefully when customers, patients, or people in our community need supplies, they think of Rick's first.”