Dandurand Drugstore to open near 21st and Ridge Road
WICHITA — Mike Dandurand, who opened his first Dandurand Drugstore on the east side in 1976, has always planned to have a west-side store.
However, “just the way health care is now” held him up.
“Finally, we just decided we don’t know what’s going to happen, we’re just going to do it,” he says.
The new store will be in 3,000 square feet near the northwest corner of 21st and Ridge Road where Westside Flowers by DeOrsey recently moved and Subway and Pho Chopstix already are.
“It’s going to be a hybrid,” Dandurand says of the store. “That means we’re going to do retail, but we’re also going to do compounding. … There’s a lot of pharmacies over there, but there’s not a lot of compounding pharmacies over there.”
Dandurand says that patients – anyone from premature babies to the elderly to even pets – sometimes need medicine in customized dosages, which is what compounding is for.
Dandurand’s main store is at Piccadilly Square at Central and Rock Road. Within that, there also is a long-term care pharmacy that’s strictly for people in care facilities. There’s also a Dandurand outlet insideWichita Family Medicine Specialists at Carriage Parkway.
In 2005, Dandurand expanded from its original site at Piccadilly to new 7,500-square-foot space at the center where Brick’s used to be.
“It gave us a chance to remodel (while) still in business,” Dandurand says. He says it allowed him to update the store and “make is so it was inviting.”
It’s the same idea with the new store, which will be similar to the Dandurand at Piccadilly, though a little bit smaller.
“We’ll still have a fair amount of space for gifts,” Dandurand says.
That’s a particularly popular part of the business, and Dandurand says that helps with sales.
He says when it comes to medicine, there can be issues with reimbursements.
“Ever since Medicare
Part D, it’s always been kind of a challenge,” Dandurand says. He says the question always is, “What’s happening?”
Part D, it’s always been kind of a challenge,” Dandurand says. He says the question always is, “What’s happening?”
For instance, he says, “The federal government wants to be a player, but they don’t even know how they’re playing.”
However, Dandurand says with compounding, he’s not as dependent on what the government or insurance will do.
will do.
Dandurand believes in the potential of the west side.
“We’ve obviously crunched numbers and things like that,” he says. “Our goal is to be open June 1.”
Adam Clements of Builders Inc. represented the landlord, and Kris Wessel of NAI Martens represented Dandurand.
“When we took over this building, it was 50 percent occupied, and now we are 100 percent full,” Clements says.
He says it has “great access, great visibility, lots of rooftops.”
He says he likens it to a great product on a grocery shelf “but the label wasn’t forward for the customers to see.”
“It’s just it needed to be properly positioned in the marketplace.”
quoted from here
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