Southside Chempro is opening its new store today at 13 Casino Street, South Lismore which happens to be the old location before the February 28 2022 floods. So, it is familiar territory to all Southside Chempro clients.

Since the megaflood last year, owner Kyle Wood and his team have been operating from a cramped shop at 1 Casino Street with the Health and Hire Centre (mobility scooters etc) in a separate building next door. As Kyle previously told the Lismore App he had to cram 700 square metres of stock and 26 staff into 200 square metres to operate his pharmacy.

"We've been trying to do our best to operate. To maintain all of our service provisions while running at a reduced capacity," Kyle said.

That situation was not acceptable for the medium or long-term plan so Kyle went looking for a new home to move into. In an ironic twist, Kyle purchased his old pre-flood building.

"We did look at other options. Initially, the owner didn't want to sell and they didn't want to rebuild and so we were looking at other options as a temporary site wasn't sustainable long term. Ultimately, we decided that this was the best place because people know where we're at and it gave us a clean slate to rebuild something that is perfect for where we see it going."

(The new Southside Chempro taking shape in readiness for this morning's opening)

"We've been renovating this new site to be flood proof and we took the opportunity to make the spaces as efficient as possible and to give us capacity for growth and doubling down on the services that we need provide."

Kyle and his dedicated team have managed to renovate the building in about 10 weeks due to the fact that Kyle holds a builders license also.

"I had a couple of years off pharmacy and pursued that for a while but ultimately came back to pharmacy," Kyle explained.

"It's been handy at a time where there are shortages in trades so being able to get in there and do most of it ourselves has been advantageous for both cost and timeframe. We have still brought in specialty trades, of course, like lasers and cabinet makers, but most of it was done by ourselves and it's allowed us to bring it in on a sensible budget and a pretty quick timeframe because I wouldn't have had the funds to pay people to do it either."

As we have heard so many times in the last fourteen months when people purchased their business just before the February flood, Kyle purchased the Southside Pharmacy business six months before February 28 2022.

(October 2022 when the building was still in disrepair)

"It's actually been a pretty quick process. We started early February, so I think nine or ten weeks since we got into it and we've rebuilt with all floodproof materials and a lot of hardwearing things. So hopefully this never happens again, but if it does, it shouldn't be a showstopper like it was last time."

When people think of South Lismore, they think that the entire area is low-lying and susceptible to going under in any major flood. This is not the case for the new Southside Chempro shop, Kyle said his floor is at the 13.5 to 14-metre level so every other flood in recent memory would not have entered his shop.

While we were chatting with Kyle, his staff were madly moving stock from the old store to the new store and placing it on the shelves in readiness for 8:30 this morning when the doors open at 13 Casino Street once again.

"The staff have been amazing. Keeping spirits high and doing a fantastic job in pretty challenging circumstances but everyone is very excited to have something that is better than we've ever had at Southside. It's fantastic.

(Southside Checmpro owner Kyle Wood and his staff at the new location at 13 Casino Street, South Lismore)

One of the customer benefits is that all of Kyle's stock will now be in one building. Due to the lack of space in the old building, the Health and Hire Centre was in a different building on Casino Street, however, from today that changes with mobility aids like walkers, scooters and chairs are available in the same location as scripts.

"We have taken the opportunity to adjust the layout in the new store to fit everything in there, so it's all under the same roof at the premises that we now own. It allows better control and is a bit more efficient."

(The new plant wall as you enter the new Southside Chempro building)

The new Southside Chempro Pharmacy opens at 8:30am at 13 Casino Street, South Lismore.