WHEN DENMARK'S PHARMACY became Denmarks Home Medical in 1992, the shift represented much more than a change in letterhead. Divesting the company's 32-year-old pharmacy business to focus on home medical equipment meant wooing physicians and case managers rather than consumers.

While company officials say they don't regret the move, it's time "to go back to doing something we did really well-retail," says Mike Iarocci, chief operating officer of the New Bedford, Mass.-based company. "We're taking the retail philosophy that was successful for years and tailoring it to HME, instead of pharmacy."

The return-to-retail philosophy was inspired in January 1998 by a team of top-level executives led by Christopher Denmark, former president and chief executive who died suddenly in September 1998. "We needed cash flow, and we needed not to have to wait 120 days to get it," Iarocci says. "We were willing to sacrifice a little gross profit to get that money in the bank the next day."

The company's efforts to stimulate greater cash sales entail a three-pronged approach, he says: to add product lines to their array of beds and oxygen concentrators; to price them aggressively; and to promote the products and the people selling them.

Denmarks' new product lines feature the trendiest items in HME: aromatherapy, massagers, foot care products, magnets, hot and cold therapy products, and diabetic supplies. Such products might cost a little more at Denmarks than at the local Wal-Mart or pharmacy chain, but officials plan to explain the slight upcharge via advertisements highlighting the service customers can get from Denmarks' employees.

"We're going to promote the fact that our employees are health care professionals, not 17-year-old part-time high school students," Iarocci says. "We'll let you take it out of the box, play with it and explain why doctors recommend it and how to use it."

To draw customers into the company's five retail locations, Denmarks also plans to offer product specials related to annual health events, such as American Heart Month and the Great American Smokeout.

In addition to stocking consumer-friendly merchandise, Denmarks is retraining employees to serve walk-in customers. "We're re-training our customer service reps and home care assistants," Iarocci says. "They need to be ready not only to take a call from a referral source, but to sell to Mrs. Jones, who walks in the front door."

About 12 percent of Denmarks' $5 million in revenue is from retail sales, but Iarocci hopes to boost that figure to 25 percent. Perched on Cape Cod, Denmarks is surrounded by clients who are ripe for retail selling, Iarocci says. "The people who retire here have disposable income," he says. "And the younger people have money; they won't think twice about dropping $800 for a lift chair for their mother."

Susan Denmark, Christopher's wife and president and chief executive of Denmarks, has entrusted the execution of the retail vision to Iarocci and other company officers. "Most of this plan was Chris' vision and determination," he says. "We're committed to following it through."