Price Drug Store and Ringgold Prescription Shop are becoming one - Price Ringgold Drug Store - this week.
The spacious 7,000-square-foot building with an estimated $900,000 price tag is in the heart of downtown Ringgold. Store owner and pharmacist Chuck Gass, of Ringgold, said the store pays tribute to his late father, Harry J. Gass, who dreamed of merging the stores in his retirement. The elder Gass worked as a pharmacist inside Ringgold's Price Drug Store in 1963 and owned the store from the 1970s until December 2010.
Price Ringgold Drug Store is coming to life with help from heating and air consultant O.C. Adcock, roofing installer Tyler Pierce and G & K Sign Installation owner and building project manager Gene Bishop, from left. The men showcase the store's new countertop that holds a marker in memory of Harry J. Gass, who owned Price Drug Store in Ringgold for four decades.Chuck Gass opened Ringgold Prescription Shop in 2001.
"It's a beautiful building," he said of the new store. "It will be an asset to the area. Maybe it will ease the pain and wipe away some of the memories of the tornado. I hope it will be a model for more buildings to come."
He said the planning process took more than a year. Originally, construction was set to be under way in April, when the tornado wiped out buildings in downtown Ringgold. Luckily, construction did not begin until August, he said.
"We will use 3,500 square feet of the building for the pharmacy," said Gass. "The rest of the infrastructure is there for a restaurant. We made a patio area for outdoor seating. You will have to go out of the pharmacy to get to the restaurant."
He envisions opening a brick oven pizza restaurant in the northern end of the building for students to hang out at after school. He said the restaurant could serve ice cream and soft drinks too.
At the southern end of the building, the pharmacy awaits customers in need of medicine and gifts.
Construction project manager Gene Bishop said Price Ringgold Drug Store boasts a consultation room for patients and pharmacists, a waiting area, a spacious concrete countertop with prescription shelves in back and a drive-thru window.
A special office inside the store will house a nurse practitioner to administer immunizations. All Price Ringgold Drug Store pharmacists including Gass, Ray Abney, Cheryl Odom and Jinna Brown are certified to administer immunizations as well.
Shoppers can step into the middle of the store and select items from shelves such as medicine, vitamins, costume jewelry, toys and Ringgold T-shirts to purchase. DVDs, ice cream, Coca-Cola products and greeting cards are also available for purchase along the back wall.