An independent pharmacy that has found success on Bay Street for 90 years is now planning to open a second location in the city’s south end.
Janzen’s Pharmacy recently announced plans to convert the former Curves building on
Frederica Street in Westfort into a Pharmacy. The new location would be the second the independent company owns and operates within the city."This area is very similar to the one we are in now," said Brenda Adams, pharmacist and owner of Janzen’s Pharmacy, about the Frederica Street location. "We pride ourselves in being a nice local hometown pharmacy with personalized customer service. I think this area’s businesses offers that to their clientele so I think we will be a good fit and I think they are a good fit for us as well."
But unlike the Bay Street location, Frederica Street features a Shoppers Drug Mart one block away. Adams said she is not intimidated.
While the two companies sell the same products, the different atmospheres leads Adams to believe that Shoppers Drug Mart isn’t exactly direct competition. Despite that, Adams said she realizes that the move could be seen as symbolic to small and independent businesses.
"For us to be standing right next to the big guys, I think that is very important for the community," Adams said. "I think we should all be very proud of that and not be hesitant to say ‘yes we can go up against the big guys.’"
Once complete, the new location should look a lot like the current Janzen’s Pharmacy. But unlike the existing location, the future Westfort pharmacy is expected to have its own walk-in medical clinic in house.
If everything goes according to plan, the Westfort Janzen’s should have at least one pharmacist, two technical staff members and one or two customer service representatives.
The announcement of the second location comes two weeks after the province announced changes to the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan.
The changes would see the elimination of professional allowances – paying shopkeepers for shelf space – for generic medication companies. The proposed changes could cut the cost of generic medications by as much as half.
Officials with pharmacies in Thunder Bay said earlier that the announcement could result in serious revenue loss. Those losses in revenue could lead pharmacies to cut costs, which wouldn’t exclude staff reductions.
Adams said plans for a new location will still move ahead despite the province’s announcement, but added that cost cutting would still be a reality.
"It will certainly change our renovation strategy," she said. "We will be looking at doing it a lot cheaper than we had planned. As well it will effect our staffing. We probably would have expanded to have more staff at this location, but now we are looking at moving some staff from our current location over here instead of expanding our staff base."
There is no official opening date set at this time, but Adams said they hope to have the Westfort pharmacy opened by as early as this fall.
