09/30/2026
✨💊 BUSINESS FEATURE: Super Drugs
Generations of Service in the Heart of McKenzie
✍ By Mark Bowlin
McKENZIE — In an era when locally owned pharmacies have increasingly given way to national chains and online services, Super Drugs continues doing business much the way generations of McKenzie residents have known it — one customer at a time.
Behind the counter, pharmacist Dr. Paul Motheral sees his job as something more personal than dispensing medication.
“I like people,” Motheral said. “Really, what we’re doing is helping people.”
That philosophy has helped sustain a family business whose history stretches back generations in downtown McKenzie.
The story began before the Motheral family took ownership.
Charles Covington entered the pharmacy business in McKenzie in 1910 when he purchased Dr. O. Sneed’s drug and grocery store. Covington Drug eventually moved into the Hamilton Building in 1929.
Motheral said his grandfather, Wendell Motheral, worked for Covington before eventually becoming part of the business himself.
Drugstores of that era were considerably different from modern pharmacies. In addition to prescriptions, they sold cosmetics, toys, to***co and a variety of merchandise. Covington Drug also operated a soda fountain.
“There was a little bit of everything,” Motheral recalled.
The Motheral family took ownership in the late 1940s, beginning a family legacy that continues today.
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Photos:
1. Super Drugs Staff September 2026 (L to R): Sheila Hutson, Jenise Butler, Owner Paul Motheral, Kim Essary and Melanie Maddox. Photo by Mark Bowlin/The Banner
2. Pharmacist John Motheral rides in the “medicine wagon” during the Carroll County Sesquicentennial Parade. File photos originally published in “A Pictorial History of McKenzie, Tennessee,” by The McKenzie Banner in October 2004.
3. A recent photo of Super Drugs in Downtown McKenzie, August 2026. Photo by Brittany Martin/The Banner
