What Makes James Bay Pharmasave Hum?

By Jack Krayenhoff

To a newcomer, the James Bay Pharmasave store is a bit surprising. When he steps through the door, it looks like an average neighbourhood drugstore. He looks for the pharmacy department, but it is nowhere in sight. So he walks farther inside, and as he progresses more and more store opens up to him; he keeps walking into another aisle and another aisle, and finally, after about half a city block (no, just kidding) - there is the pharmacy!  Yes, this place is surprisingly big, and it is also very busy. The Beacon finds Jeffrey McInnes, the store's owner, to ask him what makes it hum.

Jeff explains first of all that he employs several pharmacists, but that he himself is not one - he is a business person. Just out of  Grade 12 he started out as a drugstore stock boy, and over the years he was given more and more responsibility. In 1998 he went to work in Langley at the Pharmasave headquarters of Canada, in charge of Marketing and Merchandizing for the B.C. region. "That taught me how to get independent people working together for the common good," says Jeff.

In 2006 he bought this store. It was a homecoming for him, because he grew up in James Bay. "Back then," he remembers, "it was a rough neighbourhood, and things were run-down. But when I came back it was great to see how the community has grown up. It is healthy now, and well-kept."

His philosophy for the store was shaped in his youth, when he saw his grandparents looking after the elderly tenants of the Beacon Towers on Douglas Street, bringing them soup or things they needed when they were sick. "My grandparents had grown up on the prairies, where people looked after their neighbours because if they didn't, they might perish," he says. "But when they got old themselves and needed help, they did not get it. This was their drugstore, but no one was there to reach out to them. When I bought it, I knew that had to change."

He started with free delivery, not only of prescription drugs, but anything else the older folk needed. In fact, if people ask him if he can carry items one does not normally expect to find in a drugstore, he will do his best to stock it, so that the elderly don't have to go downtown for it. He introduced the "Seniors Day,", the first Wednesday of each month, where seniors get 15% off and also free coffee and cookies. "It's a help for people on a tight budget," he says, "but it is also a great social occasion. They will shop, but it is even more about visiting."

Of course, he is only one man, so he instills his vision into the staff. "I tell them that we care about the people that come here. 'Think of the elderly folk as if they were your grandparents,' I tell them. And they do a great job of it."

Nor is he thinking only about seniors. "We extended our operating hours to the evenings and weekends, so that working people get a chance to get what they need. We have a responsibility for people's health, and you can always drop in for some free advice from our professional staff. Pharmacists are the most accessible (and free!) sources of health advice."

Jeff concludes, "We are thankful to the people of James Bay for supporting us. We support the James Bay Community Project, the Seniors Centre, and the local schools, for we think it is right to give back to the community. We're trying to be good citizens of James Bay."