River Valley Chamber of Commerse

GUARDIAN_PHARMACY

Remember the 70’s TV sitcom, ‘The Odd Couple’? That’s who this profile is about. Naaaa!...not Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, the two fellows that shared an apartment whos’ characters were poles apart - yet, strangely, complimented each other so well.

You bet!...it’s the new independent owners of the Guardian Pharmacy in Grand Bay-Westfield: Gord Livingstone and Bill Andrews. Both hale from Cape Breton and have brought a refreshing air of fun to an amazing line of products and services. This is the kind of place where you can fill your prescriptions, pay your bills, pick up a gift, treat yourself and learn a thing or two about your health care.

Bill is the Head Pharmacist and Gord is the King of Retail. Bill is the quiet, gentle calm and Gord has the wacky marketing saavy that together brings Guardian to a whole other experience. They meet regularly with their core team including Janice MacDougal, Jean Smith, Wanda Childs and Diane Snider and brainstorm great ideas for their customers.

Guardian loves to give back to the community; things like draws for dinner, a Nintendo Wii, a WebKinz Event filled with games and prizes for the kids, gift giveways - which, by the way, is another great thing - their product line. They keep themselves well versed on new stuff by attending different tradeshows. They truly are proud supporters of their community and renewed members with the River Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The store also brings in new technology like the Blood Pressure machine that is capable of creating a data base of your blood pressure history and storing it on an electronic card (the Rexall Be Smartcard), as well as bringing in different informational health care seminars to help better equip their customers for their own information.

Guardian really endorses their kid-appeal with Colouring Contests at the schools: Browns Flat, Grand Bay Primary, Inglewood, Morna and Westfield.

“What we (the chamber) need to work together on is some better infrastructure to attract the families with kids,” remarks Gord, “Grand Bay-Westfield has everything going for itself with the beautiful surroundings, great business lines and super friendly people. Huge residential potential. We need to bring to the table more options for that in-between age where kids aren’t old enough yet to drive, but are older than just playing in the backyard.”

So definitely the key is to support your local businesses and together we have a stronger voice to implement positive change within the community.

Or you can have a quiet voice, like Bill, but the bottom line is that opposites do attract!

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