Yes, we have changed our minds and we will now be carpenters instead of pharmacists. Of course we are kidding, but we must admit that it has been nice to get so personal with our project recently. Our space is looking more like what we envisioned it, our DIY projects are disappearing, and our opening date is getting clearer every day. This week we thought it was important to update you guys on our construction progress and when we will be opening our doors.
Construction on our store is pretty much to the halfway point – all underground utilities have been completed and concrete poured back, our walls are framed out, and they are completing our in-wall and overhead utilities over the coming couple weeks. We are so excited to finally have a shell in our unit that reflects the space we put on paper!
The last few weeks have been pretty chaotic for us in regards to the tasks that we committed to for Front Range. Last week we built the wooden surround that will stretch across the pharmacy space of our store. Creating 46 feet of this design was quite an undertaking in a one car garage workshop, but we did it and love the final result! This week, our parents flew in from South Carolina and Washington to help us tackle the biggest on the project- our cabinetry. Instead of purchasing the expensive custom pharmacy cabinets that one usually must, we elected to design and build our own at a fraction of the cost. This entailed nearly two dozen sheets of maple plywood being delivered to our door this Tuesday and us turning them into cabinets for our transaction and pharmacy work counter. Honestly, we have a had a blast with our folks and have truly enjoyed everyone pitching in to get this done. We are on pace to finish all the tasks we put on our plate for the week, leaving us to build one more big project – our wooden drop ceilings over our entryways. It has been a lot of work taking on these items, but the money we have saved and the impact they will bring to our space is worth twice the time we have invested.
Front Range has several more weeks of construction ahead. The large tasks left at the store are drywall, hanging the lights, painting, and installing our floors. The part of this project that stresses us out the most is actually not the construction of our space, but rather the licensure needed to function as a pharmacy. We must be inspected by our state board and obtain our Pharmacy Permit/NPI/DEA numbers before we can start contracting with third parties. This insurance contracting phase can take up to 60 days, so our goal is to begin this process on Tuesday. There is nothing that keeps us up at night more than the prospect of being completely finished and have drugs on our shelves, but being unable to open due to insurance contracts not being completed. We have a plan and the determination to succeed in overlapping the last phase of our construction with third party contracting – wish us luck!
Due to losing a few weeks because of a large plumbing issue, our scheduled construction completion date is now in the first week of March. After our space is done, we must schedule our software install and training, as well as the install and training on our packaging robot- about 2 weeks to compete it all. At this point, our grand opening is likely to be sometime in the second half of March. We truly miss being pharmacists- we absolutely love our job and cannot wait to resume and bring Front Range Pharmacy to life for our community. We appreciate all the family, friends, and former patients reaching out with encouragement and kind words while we work hard to get our doors open. We cannot wait to invite you to the store and we truly believe that you are going to love your local pharmacy.
PS – Our website got a little makeover by a professional – our SquareSpace skills were reaching their limit. Let us know what you think!
