Smart Pharmacy has thrived in its West Palmer Street location since the business opened in 2013, but for the past several years owner Jacob Reiche has seen the potential for a bigger business at a busier location.
When a roundabout started going up at Wayah and Maple streets, he found his site. Now, a new and much bigger Smart Pharmacy representing a $1.25 million investment is going up right at the roundabout, and Reiche hopes to open the doors there in May.
“I started looking back in 2016,” he said. “I bought the property in June 2018.”
After repeated appearances at town planning board meetings over those two years, Reiche was successful in getting the tracts off Wayah Street rezoned to multi-use medical, which allows a drive-thru.
Dunkin’ Donuts had previously been denied a drive-thru variance, he said.
Reiche said he considered the new location ideal, with plenty of traffic close to the area he already serves.
“I wanted to have better traffic count, and I didn’t want to move very far from our current location,” he said. “ I wanted to keep my customer base. People shop close to home and work or along the route to and from home and work.”
Reiche said he estimates the new location will see about three times the traffic that he gets at the current location, where “a lot of people dodge my area by using Maple and Wayah past the high school.”
The larger store will also provide more convenience and easier access for customers.
“We’re going to have a much nicer drive-thru with easier access and a simple one-way parking lot that will allow for easy in and out.”
The current location offers about 1,800 square feet, with some additional space in the basement used for storage. The new store will be 4,200 square feet, which will allow for wider aisles, more work space for employees and an expanded merchandise mix.
“We’ll be have more ability to have more offerings,” Reiche said. “We’ll have a major expansion into durable medical equipment such as walkers and wheelchairs. And we’re virtually doubling our work space for our employees, doubling our computer count, doubling our phones.”
Other upgrades include a public restroom, which the current location can’t accommodate.
Reiche said he’s looking forward to moving into the new location.
“When my lease is up at the end of June, we will have leased for eight years,” he said. “After spending the money I’ve spent on rent here, it was a no-brainer to build my own.”
He’ll still be paying rent, though.
“I bought property and building the building through my real-estate holding company, Happy Prescription Productions,” he said. “I’ll rent it to Smart Pharmacy.”
Reiche went ahead with the project despite the coronavirus pandemic. Opting for steel construction kept costs down, he said.
“Steel studs haven’t been affected by the rise in building costs,” he said. “If you were doing stick-built you’d be looking at three to four times the cost because the price of lumber got gouged.”
Reiche is counting on increased traffic and sales, but he’s also aiming to add an attractive commercial building to Franklin.
“I hope to bring a good-looking commercial building to town to hopefully add to the beautification of that side of town. It will be a nice building, and I have hopes of putting a mural on the side of the building.”