The news of the closing of Snyder Drug has caused a great deal of concern, and set in motion a great deal of conversation over the past week. City officials had no advanced notice, and learned of the troubling news through reports from the staff of our drugstore. Nor had there been any hint to City leadership that a change might be on the horizon, so it came as an incredible shock to all of us as well. The efforts of the City to ensure that we have a pharmacy and drugstore in our community began the moment that the news broke. Early conversations made it quite clear that there was no hope of persuading Walgreens to keep this location open, so the efforts were focused on courting a new pharmacy to begin as quickly as possible.
Members of the City Council, staff, and our Economic Development Authority have spent many hours and held countless phone conversations with the ultimate payoff occurring yesterday when the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy agreed to suspend their normal operating procedures to allow for a process for a pharmacy to be licensed in a matter of only days; saving would could have been (quite literally) months. The City is very happy to announce that Thrifty White Drug is working ambitiously to open a store in Cold Spring as soon as possible, and possibly as early as the middle of next week. The exact opening date is beyond the control of the company to some degree due to that fact that the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy must inspect and approve the location prior to conducting any business.
The City showed many possible locations to Thrifty White Drug, and in the end they selected the site of the new Schurman Retail Center (right across the street from City Hall). You’ll note that finishing work is well underway on the northern-most suite on the lower level. We’ve been told that it’s likely that we’ll see a lot of activity on Saturday and Sunday with the company installing fixtures and furnishings. It’s important to note that this is thought to be just a temporary location for Thrifty White. The goal of the City’s leadership was to keep any time without an open pharmacy to an absolute minimum. Identifying a permanent location is a matter that is left largely up to private market forces in such cases. So although the City will assist in any way that we are asked to in that process, the City will remain objective and let the parties work out those matters.
The City’s leadership has had a great deal of conversation with Thrifty White’s top management, including their CEO and President; and we have been pleased with how well that relationship has gone. We’ve been told that they’ve been equally pleased with the assistance that the City has provided to them during a crazy, but immensely successful period of about one week.
A second goal for the City in this process has been to preserve the jobs for the employees of our existing drug store. The City communicated this message clearly to Thrifty White throughout the hurried process; and we are very proud to report that they appear to have taken this request to heart. We hope and expect that in the near future the same friendly and reliable staff will be assisting you with your prescriptions.
The team that worked so hard on this process over the past week has been impressed with how it appears that this company will likely be a much improved fit for Cold Spring. Thrifty White is a company that has been in existence for 126 years. Their locations are in smaller, rural communities; and are exclusive to the Midwest. They are a Minnesota-based company (Maple Grove). Perhaps more important than any of these traits, the company is 100% employee-owned. If you’d like to learn more for yourselves, check out their website: http://www.thriftywhite.com/.
In the upcoming days and weeks we expect that there will be more information regarding this incredible turn of events, but the City wanted to provide a report as early as possible to keep the public informed of this critical situation.
There are countless studies as well as first-hand accounts from our Cold Spring businesses about the benefits of money that is spent and re-spent in our town when residents shop in Cold Spring. Accordingly, it was critical that we keep this core business in our community. It is hoped that the effort invested in this project over the past week will serve as a reminder to all of us of the importance of the credo…shop locally!
Regards,
Larry Lahr
City Administrator
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