On December 1, the Golden Family Pharmacy moved from their former location next to The Source, to 916 10th Ave S, which was formerly occupied by Kicking Horse Interiors.
The Pharmacy was only closed for one day, on December 1, for the move. While the move was hectic, owners Sean Bennett and Heather Tollenar wanted to minimize the amount of time they were closed, in order to not disrupt their prescription services and regular customers.
“It’s an adjustment for people so we tried to limit the downtime as much as we could so we tried to make it happen in one day,” said Bennett. “It was hectic, we called in a lot of favours and help with staff and friends, it was awesome. I just have a few things to clean up now.”
While the move was just a block over, Bennett and Tollenar feel that it will be beneficial for the business.
The new building is almost double the square footage, which opens up the opportunity to expand services and stock that Golden residents may have otherwise had to go out of town to get.
“I think we had just kind of outgrown that location,” said Tollenar. “Now, We can set it up how we want it to be set up, and it will allow for the business to grow, and offer more services down the road.”
Some of the changes that they have already made is making the pharmacy more accessible. They’ve removed the raised platform and introduced new lowered desks, and are also in talks with the town about handicap parking.
One of the main things that the move will allow them to do is increase their counselling services.
Before, the pharmacy only had one counselling room, which was quickly overwhelmed during their busiest times of the year, such as flu shot season. Now, with two counselling rooms, the pharmacy will be able to expand on the services that they provide.
“We want to see what Golden needs, what people are missing, and what they’re going out of town for,” said Tollenar. “Not having to drive all the way to Invermere when they can just come here is huge, especially because travel is not easy in this area at this time of year.”
The Pharmacy will be looking to the public for what services are in demand to decide what services they would like to add.
“I’ve always been interested in doing diet and weight loss consults,” said Bennett. “I want to explore each pharmacists strengths and interests and see what they want to do more of.”
There will also be an opportunity to sell local products and art, with Bennett himself considering getting into some hobby projects, such as furniture making, and displaying them in store.
Diversifying their stock is a priority as well, bringing in new products that traditionally they have not had the space for in the past.
