Johnsrud honored for entrepeneurship

NuCara Pharmacy President, Owner and Co-Founder TJ Johnsrud took a leap of faith in 1973 when he moved to Conrad, a community he had only visited once before, from Cedar Rapids and opened his first pharmacy. Now, 43 years and 22 locations later, NuCara Pharmacy remains headquartered here and is an unbridled success story in business. Johnsrud was recently recognized for his efforts with a Main Street Iowa Entrepreneurship award, which he won over several other successful businesspeople from around the state.
           
“Conrad was a very nurturing community. I was very fortunate,” he said. “Timing is everything in life.”
           
Johnsrud, who grew up in northeast Iowa before attending Creighton for his undergraduate degree and the University of Iowa pharmacy school, went on to add that compared to today’s economic climate, it was a lot easier to start a business then, but what he managed to accomplish is no less impressive: Conrad Pharmacy was eventually rebranded NuCara in 2004, and it now has 22 locations in five different states. The home office remains here to this day, and NuCara employs approximately 20 people in Conrad alone (and over 300 total). 
 
Read more in this week's Grundy Register.