Small Business Administration-backed financing from Live Oak Bank is enabling an independent pharmacy to establish a second area location.

Pharmacists Joey Galloway and Kevin Sands, owners of Galloway Sands Pharmacy in Supply, have opened a store at 4433 Long Beach Road SE in Southport, according to a news release from Wilmington-based Live Oak Bank.

The expansion was prompted by Walgreens’ recent purchase of Raleigh-based chain Kerr Drug, which operated a pharmacy in Southport, officials said.

“Kerr was an active, supportive, local pharmacy,” Galloway said in the release. “I didn’t want to see the end of the independent pharmacy in Southport. We knew there was a demand and need for this option in the area so we moved forward with starting the pharmacy with the help of Live Oak Bank.”

The bank, which specializes in providing SBA-backed loans to specific professions, including independent pharmacists, worked with the drug store owners to secure startup 7(a) loan financing. Terms of the loan were not disclosed.

“Keeping independents independent is the core intention of our pharmacy lending team,” Ed Webman, registered pharmacist and senior loan officer at Live Oak, said in the release. “Helping folks like Joey and Kevin keep these businesses as a viable option to the community is a resounding success to us at the bank.”

The new drug store is now open with its pharmacy operations managed by Brad Narron, who was pharmacist-in-charge at the former Kerr Drug location, the release stated.