Our Story
When Blaine Okuley opened his pharmacy on Main Street in Continental, Ohio in 1950, he kept the old-fashioned soda fountain that still sits in the corner today. Seventy-five years later, that same pharmacy — now run by his son Travis and Travis's wife Kieu — has grown into three locations across Defiance, Paulding, and Continental, with a PCCA-member compounding lab that serves patients from across Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana. We've stayed independent because our patients keep choosing us.
Three Generations
The path from a 1950s soda fountain to a regional compounding pharmacy isn't a typical business story. It's a family one — built on the assumption that pharmacy could be something more personal than what most chains had become.
Blaine Okuley founded the original pharmacy on Main Street in Continental, Ohio, in 1950. The store had a soda fountain — common at the time, when small-town pharmacies often doubled as community gathering spots. That same soda fountain still sits in the corner of the Continental store today, still operational, more than seventy-five years later.
In January 1995, Blaine and Anita sold the business to their son Travis and his wife Kieu. The new owners expanded the store's services to include prescriptions, gifts and sundries, nursing home unit-dose packaging, disease state management, and durable medical equipment. In 1997, they remodeled the Continental store to expand the prescription department and add dedicated space for compounding.
Okuley's joined Professional Compounding Centers of America — the national organization that supports compounding pharmacies with formulation databases, ingredient sourcing standards, and continuing education. Kieu took the lead on compounding, drawing on her clinical training and a growing interest in personalized medicine. Within a year, the compounding work had outgrown the space in Continental.
In March 2000, Travis and Kieu opened a dedicated compounding pharmacy in Defiance — originally called Okuley's Unique Prescriptions. Kieu became the head pharmacist of the new lab, where she still works today, preparing custom hormone replacement therapy, thyroid, pain, pediatric, and veterinary formulations. Over the years, the Defiance location grew to include durable medical equipment, home medical supplies, and The Lady's Boutique.
When Rite Aid announced the closure of its Paulding store, patients in Paulding County faced losing local pharmacy access. Working with Paulding County Economic Development and the Paulding County Hospital, Okuley's stepped in. The new Paulding location at 829 N Williams Street — in the former Fastenal building next to the BMV — opened to serve the community alongside the original Continental store and the Defiance compounding lab.
Across Defiance, Paulding, and Continental, Okuley's runs as a single team. Compounded medications prepared in the Defiance lab are delivered routinely to Paulding and Continental. Local delivery extends to more than 18 surrounding communities. And the same soda fountain Blaine kept in 1950 is still in the same corner of the Continental store — still in use, still part of the family business.
The Owners
Independent pharmacy works because real people make the decisions. At Okuley's, those decisions still come from the family that owns the business.
Owners & Family Pharmacy Operators
Second-Generation Okuley · Owners Since 1995 · PCCA Member Pharmacy Since 1998
Travis is the son of Blaine and Anita Okuley, who founded the Continental pharmacy in 1950. He grew up in the store and purchased it with his wife Kieu in January 1995 — moving the pharmacy from second to third generation of family ownership.
Kieu specialized in clinical compounding, hormone replacement therapy, and women's health. After joining PCCA in 1998 and opening the Defiance compounding lab in 2000, she has spent more than twenty-five years personally preparing custom formulations for patients across Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana.
Travis leads operations, durable medical equipment, and the growth that brought Okuley's to Defiance and Paulding. Together they've kept the pharmacy independent and family-owned — the reason patients still talk to the same pharmacists every time they come in.
Credentials
Pharmacy isn't a generic skill — it's deeply specialized, and the kind of pharmacy you choose makes a real difference in the kind of care you receive. Here's the foundation our team brings to every prescription.
Professional Compounding Centers of America is the national organization for compounding pharmacies. Membership provides access to PCCA's formulation database, ingredient sourcing standards, ongoing compounding-specific continuing education, and a peer network of more than 3,500 compounding pharmacists across North America. Okuley's has been a PCCA member pharmacy continuously since 1998.
Kieu Okuley has personally prepared compounded prescriptions in our Defiance lab since 2000, drawing on PCCA training and decades of clinical interest in personalized medicine. Her specialty areas include hormone replacement therapy, women's health, thyroid optimization, pediatric formulations, and complex transdermal preparations.
Our compounding lab operates under USP 795 standards for non-sterile preparations — the national pharmacy compounding standards published by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention. Every compounded medication includes lot number documentation, raw ingredient source tracking, and pharmacist verification before it leaves the lab.
Okuley's has been family-owned and locally operated since 1950 — through three generations of the Okuley family. We don't answer to shareholders or corporate franchise systems. The pharmacists who fill your prescriptions are the same people who'll know your name the next time you come in.
Where to Find Us
From the original Continental store to the Defiance compounding lab to the new Paulding location, Okuley's serves Northwest Ohio and parts of Northeast Indiana.
Compounding Lab + Durable Medical Equipment
1201 E 2nd StGeneral Dispensing + DME + Drive-Through
829 N Williams StreetOriginal Location + Respiratory + DME
102 S Main StReady to come in?
Whether you're transferring a prescription, exploring a compound, or just stopping by for the first time — come see why patients drive twenty and thirty miles to make Okuley's their pharmacy.
