Customers of the Battlefords Co-op Pharmacy no longer have to dodge construction activity.
They will still have to dodge construction and renovation activity in the rest of Territorial Mall, but six months of renovation work is now complete for the expanded pharmacy, which celebrated its ribbon-cutting Friday morning.
On hand for the grand opening was Pharmacy Manager Garth Walls, Battlefords Co-op General Manager Pat Smith as well as co-op board members and pharmacy employees.
Also there was MLA Herb Cox, North Battleford councillor Ron Crush and Battleford mayor Chris Odishaw, among others. Co-op mascot Cooper was also on hand.
The opening of the expanded pharmacy comes on the heels of a year of big changes for Territorial Mall.
Last year, SpesMed, seeking more space for its medical practice, moved out of its location in the mall to the former Wilson and Zehner Funeral Home location on 99th Street.
That freed up space right next door to the pharmacy. Fortuitously, the Co-op Pharmacy had just acquired the assets and records of Inter-city Pharmacy that had been located downtown on 101st Street. It became clear soon after that acquisition they needed more space to handled the increased load.
"Right after that was done we started on this project," noted Walls. In particular, there was a pressing need to expand the dispensary for prescription medications.
"We've had about a 30 per cent increase in business in the past year, and out of that tiny dispenser we had before, we couldn't have done it."
Before, Walls noted "we only had a room for four staff behind the dispensary." Now, they can handle up to 10 people there."
There are also improved areas for privacy when talking to customers about medication, and five work stations instead of two.
In terms of space, the new pharmacy is now about double the size of the old one with more shelf space for over-the-counter medications and other products.
Improved customer service is a focus. Walls noted their goal is for turnaround times for prescriptions of 20 minutes or less. Walls says they are able to achieve that about 95 per cent of the time now.
Walls said that with the expansion now complete for the pharmacy, it is now in a position to handle even more business in the future.
"We're ready for the next ten years," Walls said.
Now that the pharmacy expansion is complete the Battlefords Co-op can focus on the rest of the extensive renovations going on inside the mall.
Smith said work continues on the décor of the mall, and will continue to progress over the coming months.
"Hopefully in the next ten weeks we'll have it wrapped up," he said.
That construction work is most evident on the south end of the mall, where construction work is ongoing.
He told reporters it was part of the need to provide a "fresh look" for the mall. The next project after that for the Co-op will be work on the roof this summer.
Smith noted that was a big year for the Battlefords Co-op. Revenues last year were $73 million, an increase of 10 per cent. While not official yet, local savings were also a record, and Smith added members can expect an "excellent" patronage refund from the booming year the co-op had in 2011.
