Ovens St. Pharmacy History. Ovens Street Pharmacy opened in 1979 and was the brainchild of Gregg & Cherry Symons & Bren Milsom, who owned the Amcal Pharmacy in Murphy St, Wangaratta.
The Pharmacy was sited at shop 6/76 Ovens St; the former David Wohlers bike shop. At that time, it measured 6 x 7m or about the size of a double garage and was one of the smallest Pharmacies in Australia. Being a bit of an experiment, it was kitted out with second hand shopfittings & shelving; all collected from Geelong by Bren & Gregg and installed by them after hours.
It was initially staffed by one Pharmacist & one Assistant. Interestingly, a coffee machine was installed from day one to try and attract people in, however Gregg Symons was later to recall that "On the first day we only did 6 scripts, but we made a hell of a lot of coffee………."
From 1979 to 1987 the Pharmacy grew its customer base with those people who enjoyed its more intimate, personal atmosphere and close proximity to Ovens Medical Group.
In 1987, following his Pre-registration year at Symons Amcal Pharmacy, Craig O'Meara was offered the position of manager at Ovens St. Pharmacy. He saw it as a great opportunity to learn how to run a retail Pharmacy and had no idea he would still be there 24 years later….
At this stage the Pharmacy was averaging 60 to 80 scripts per day, with one Pharmacist & one Assistant most days. "If the Assistant was ill or on holidays, I had to do the lot on my own : balancing the till, banking, dispensing, counselling, otc sales, ordering and so on…" Craig recalls.
In 1991, Ovens St. Pharmacy had its first opportunity for expansion when the shop immediately next door became available. The wall between the 2 shops came down and the Pharmacy doubled in size overnight. At this time, the Pharmacy had grown to dispensing 100 to 120 scripts per day, with one Pharmacist, one Dispensary Technician and 2 sales assistants.
Ovens St. Pharmacy continued to grow in the ensuing years as more & more customers enjoyed the warm welcome they received from the knowledgeable and caring staff. By 1999 the Pharmacy was again at bursting point and the opportunity arose for further expansion when the next shop at 76 Ovens St. became available. Another wall was knocked down and a modern shopfit was installed which allowed it to cope with new services such as medication packing. It also had a second dispensing terminal to help the Pharmacy cope with a workload of up to 200 scripts per day. The new fitout also sported a proper waiting area with 4 chairs and a table, which became a real hub for the store with much chatter between the waiting customers and friendly banter with the Pharmacy staff.
This expansion led to another jump in customer traffic and with nowhere left to go at 76 Ovens St. the partnership soon had its eye on the building at 74 Ovens St., at that time occupied by Human Services Victoria.
When this site became available in 2002, the partnership seized the opportunity to build a state-of-the-art Pharmacy from a clean sheet of paper. The 'New' Ovens St. Pharmacy was one of the first Guardian "concept" stores in Australia and provided the people of Wangaratta with a bright, airey, open Pharmacy loaded with new products, new lines, improved facilities such as a counseling room for private discussion, an expanded waiting area, playpen for infants and a unique gift area. The existing and new staff were excited about the new Pharmacy, but were keen to retain the friendly and approachable atmosphere that Ovens St. Pharmacy had become known for.
Everything must have fallen in to place and Ovens Street Guardian Pharmacy was awarded 'Guardian Pharmacy of the Year' in 2003 – the best from over 240 Pharmacies Australia wide.
Today, Ovens St. Guardian Pharmacy has an area of 270 square metres with 2 full time Pharmacists, 3 part time Pharmacists, 2 Dispensary Technicians, 5 full time Assistants and 3 part time assistants. Together, they dispense health advice and good cheer to dozens of customers, every day. It's a busy little place but we pride ourselves on being 100% locally owned & operated and we still have the time to be able to speak to everyone. Come in & say 'Hi!'.