Holiday bright at pharmacy

Published 11:42 am Friday, December 12, 2008

A cheery holiday atmosphere was present as Bainbridge Pharmacy showed off its recent expansion to visitors at a Chamber of Commerce “Business After Hours” event held Tuesday evening.

The pharmacy’s expansion opened in late November and provides additional seating for soda fountain patrons as well as space for gift displays.

“It’s fabulous,” said Sug Reynolds, mother of pharmacy owner Edward Reynolds. “It’s pretty and offers a quiet place to have lunch.”

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Bainbridge Pharmacy moved from downtown Bainbridge to its current location in 1989, the same year current owner Edward Reynolds graduated from pharmacy school and returned home to work for his father, the late Mayor Bill K. Reynolds. In 2000, Edward bought the pharmacy from his father and undertook its first renovation.

For the newest expansion, Reynolds built walls around what used to be an outdoor patio. His was one of the first businesses to benefit from a change to city zoning rules that allows businesses, which could not otherwise comply with minor zoning requirements, to expand.

“I hope [the expansion] will allow other people who have a little room to expand at their existing location to take a look at their business plans and see what could be done,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said his business focuses on family: not only his own with wife, Tonya, but also those of his coworkers and customers. It’s not uncommon to find a mother or grandmother browsing the pharmacy’s gifts with her children. A glance behind the counter would find pharmacist Randy Logue, who started working for Reynolds as a teenager driving the store’s delivery truck.

Reynolds and Logue are more directly involved in another new addition to the pharmacy, a compounding lab in which specialized medicines for both humans and animals can be made. The pharmacy’s employees are also excited about a planned second drive-through window and a pharmacy counter re-design that Reynolds hopes could further boost customer service efficiency.