After 2 years of talking, Gilbert Plains Pharmacy will be on the move, to Paziuk’s Family Foods.
Pierce Cairns, owner and pharmacist at Gilbert Plains Pharmacy, says the conversations started in early 2018.
“That’s about the time when the nursing homes all throughout Manitoba, the government decided to centralize the provision of pharmacy services. Up until then, we had the contract with Gilbert Plains personal care home. So this got me thinking, between that and then we had a couple of staff retirements, it was getting to be an unstable environment. So I thought, why don’t we start talking around and see if we can join forces with someone, maybe split some of that overhead and staffing considerations. Ryan had been kind of thinking the same way, he was actually looking at expanding, saying it was like he was bursting at the seams from time to time. So we started talking to try and figure out how to make that happen. By the end of last year, we came to a tentative agreement, so hopefully, that will work well going forward here.”
Some changes, Cairns says to expect are expanding the hours to include Monday, liquor would be available 6 days a week, some changes to the loyalty and perks program will likely happen, and the expansion will add a lot of room that will allow for more product.
Cairns says that Ryan, owner of Paziuk’s Family Foods, keeps getting asked how everything will fit.
“He does have about two-thirds of that front space isn’t being used, or it’s an old building, or there isn’t even building there. So, I think it’s just getting everyone to understand that it’s going to be a major expansion as well. So the pharmacy will be taking up a very small part of that new space. There’ll be additional floor space for new products, probably another till lane, more liquor offerings, more single-serve beer, all sorts of things that he doesn’t have space for right now.”
The expansion of Paziuk’s Family Foods is expected to begin in the spring, and Gilbert Plains Pharmacy is planning on being up and running in the new location, October 2020.
