St. Albert will soon be home to its first major Rexall drug store at 10 McKenney Ave., the current location of Gorgeous Girls clothing store.
The first Rexall drug store (also referred to as Rexall concept stores) was built in 2004 in Edmonton. Today, there are over 100 of them across Canada.
The large stores offer consultation rooms, a counselling corner, wide aisles and a variety of health and nutritional products. Some have a drive-through.
Jay McMartin, president of Brentwood Developments in Edmonton, said the St. Albert store would take up about 11,000 square feet. The company is also in negotiations for several tenancies in the strip mall adjacent to Gorgeous Girls.
One of the tenants, Cindy Bining, said she was approached about changing locations last year but was not interested. The owner of Trail Liquor Outlet is currently negotiating her lease with Brentwood Developments.
Bining added that she received a letter from Brentwood in 2012, which listed the new Rexall drug store on the strip mall’s property.
The letter said that Brentwood was looking to add improvements to the mall. One of these could be a Medicentre to complement the Rexall.
A map attached to the letter shows two extensions to the back of the liquor store and the former neighbouring Goodwill location. Bining said she never asked for an extension.
While he has constructed Medicentres in other properties, McMartin did not comment on building one in the strip mall at McKenney Ave.
“Any tenant could go there. You will see several changes on that plan that was attached, including changes to the parking lot, et cetera,” he said.
“But that does not mean that is where the Medicentre is going to go. We have to have a deal first for anyone to go there.”
At this point, McMartin could not say when the Rexall Drug Store will open.
Rexall also operates pharmacies under the I.D.A., Guardian and Medicine Shoppe banners.
