Medical Centre Pharmacy marks 50th anniversary

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This article was published 31/10/2017 (2871 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A visit to the Medical Centre Pharmacy in downtown Brandon is like walking into an episode of the television program “Cheers,” whose theme song is about a place “where everybody knows your name.”

Hugs and handshakes were in abundance during the pharmacy’s 50th anniversary celebration on Monday, at which customers new and old came together in celebration of the longtime community business.

At 101 years of age, Marjorie Constable was the event’s guest of honour.

Her son, Gary, was one of the pharmacy’s three founding partners, which also included John Allen and Bryan Shaw.

Gary died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 25 only one year after the pharmacy’s spring of 1967 grand opening, but Marjorie remained working at the pharmacy until 1980.

“It’s a very special place to us, still,” said Marjorie’s daughter, Cindy Brownlee. “This store has a special place in our hearts.”

Brownlee worked alongside her mother part-time until the late ’70s — a period of time she said never really felt like “work.”

“We had a lot of laughs,” she said, offering a loving glance at her mother.

The pharmacy’s history is interwoven with that of the Western Medical Clinic, which for much of the pharmacy’s history was situated next door.

They shared a common space in the building’s basement, where people from both locations came together to sip coffee.

On Monday, one of the clinic’s doctors, the now-retired Dr. Robin Andrews, stopped by to join in the day’s celebration and to reconnect with old friends.

The two locations were always a strong base for friendship, he said, adding that he has kept in touch with many of his old workplace friends since retiring in 1997.

Rob Jaska has been the pharmacy’s manager for approximately five years, during which he said that he had tried his best to fill what he considers the big shoes of his predecessor, Tom Busch, who retired after approximately 45 years at the pharmacy.

Jaska worked as a pharmacist under Busch for a couple decades prior to taking the leadership role, and credits his predecessor with setting a positive example for those who followed.

Busch died earlier this year and was “a very kind and fair man who always treated everyone with dignity and respect and set an example for all those who worked with him and all those who followed,” Jaska said.

Although the company’s space at 146 Sixth St. has been renovated over the years, its core has remained unchanged since 1967, Jaska said.

A client of the pharmacy since he was a child, Jaska said that after his post-secondary education wrapped up, the world was his oyster, but he chose to remain in Brandon at the Medical Centre Pharmacy.

“The grass here was always greener,” he said.

The Medical Centre Pharmacy operates under the Super Thrifty banner, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.

Super Thrifty Drugs Canada was formed as a result of the owners of a few area pharmacies pooling their resources to create the company, with the Medical Centre Pharmacy one of its original members.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB