Ron\u2019s Apothecary Shoppe is opening a second location inside Foodland IGA in the downtown Willoughby District.<\/p>\n
Standing in front of empty shelves behind the pharmacy counter, Scott Watts said he\u2019s feeling a \u201clittle overwhelmed.\u201d But he\u2019s positive everything will go smoothly once the new pharmacy opens in less than two weeks.<\/p>\n
Watts bought the nearly 40-year-old Ron\u2019s Apothecary Shoppe, located at the Mendenhall Mall, from Ron Sedgwick in 2001. He runs it with his wife, Gretchen Watts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe enjoy what\u2019s going on in the downtown center here, and we wanted to be a part of it,\u201d Watts said.<\/p>\n
He hopes Foodland Pharmacy, to be located in the back of the store\u2019s ACE Hardware department, will be a convenient option for people in the downtown and Douglas areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially there was a pharmacy here four years ago, so we\u2019re stepping in to provide that service again,\u201d Watts said.<\/p>\n
The pharmacist will be Will Whitehead, who was the pharmacist at the recently-closed Walmart. Prior to that, Whitehead worked at Foodland\u2019s former pharmacy, Foodland Alpha XR.<\/p>\n
Watts said an additional two to three employees will round out the staff.<\/p>\n
Prices at Foodland Pharmacy will be in line with Ron\u2019s Apothecary Shoppe and competitive with other pharmacies around town, Watts said. Service is just as important, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be able to provide custom compounded medications that will be made at Ron\u2019s Apothecary and delivered here. We\u2019ll provide access to prescriptions here six days a week. We provide a synchronized fill program so that a person can fill all their medications one day of the month rather than coming in throughout the month. We\u2019ll be providing delivery to the airport and post office daily,\u201d Watts said.<\/p>\n
Watts said he\u2019ll start to fill the pharmacy shelves next week. Foodland Pharmacy will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
Besides prescription medications, the pharmacy will offer specialty, non-prescription items that are made at Ron\u2019s Apothecary Shoppe, like diaper rash, bug bite gels, pain-free capsules and dry skin formulas.<\/p>\n
The pharmacy is just another component of the Foodland IGA remodel that\u2019s been ongoing since Seattle-based Myers Group purchased the store in 2012.<\/p>\n
Myers Group President Tyler Myers said he has put $3.5 million into the store, which included an expansion to add the ACE Hardware department.<\/p>\n
Myers hopes the newest subtenant will make Foodland as desirable to shop at as Fred Meyer and Safeway. The other subtenants are True North Federal Credit Union and Heritage Coffee Roasting Company.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be competitive I thought I need a financial institution, I need a coffee shop, I need a pharmacy, and we\u2019ll continue to add as we can,\u201d said Myers, who was visiting the store on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Myers wants to also add an in-store liquor shop. He\u2019s been actively pursuing a liquor license for a couple years. If he doesn\u2019t eventually get one, he\u2019ll move in another subtenant.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that we think the customers in this part of town are looking for, that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to fill the space with,\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n
Myers is also busy coming up with a remodel plan for Super Bear IGA in the Mendenhall Valley, which Myers Group purchased at the end of last summer. Work will start within the next two or three months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat store will get a full makeover just like this store is,\u201d Myers said. \u201cWe most likely will not be expanding the footprint, but we\u2019ll be touching every inch of the store.\u201d<\/p>\n
IGA, the Independent Grocers Alliance, honored Myers earlier this month as one of four IGA International Retailers of the Year for Foodland IGA. The award of excellence is given to IGA\u2019s best stores and retailers, according to its website.<\/p>\n
Myers said Foodland\u2019s 120 employees deserve the credit for the award.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess my name is on their paychecks, but it\u2019s the people in the store that made that happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Lisa Phu at 523-2246 or lisa.phu@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ron\u2019s Apothecary Shoppe is opening a second location inside Foodland IGA in the downtown Willoughby District. Standing in front of empty shelves behind the pharmacy counter, Scott Watts said he\u2019s feeling a \u201clittle overwhelmed.\u201d But he\u2019s positive everything will go smoothly once the new pharmacy opens in less than two weeks. Watts bought the nearly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":34077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-34076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34076"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=34076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}