Owner of Epic Pharmacy, Laura Mcdonald, enjoying the view of the beach from a beach chair beside driftwood. — Sitting down to catchup with owner and creator of Epic Pharmacy, pharmacist Laura Mcdonald.

Growing up on the East Coast of Canada, the ocean was always a huge part of Laura McDonald’s life.

After her first introduction to surfing outside Halifax while studying pharmacy at Dalhousie University, she was hooked and followed that feeling you only get while riding a wave to Tofino, BC.

During her 3rd year studying to become a pharmacist, Laura went on a trip to Tofino with her cousin Pat and booked a surf lesson with Pacific Surf Co. in the summer of 2003. She immediately fell in love with Tofino and was drawn to settling down in a beach town.

After finishing school in Halifax, Laura took a year to explore other surf and mountain towns between New Zealand and Canada. After taking a job in Calgary and spending a year away from the ocean, Laura found herself back in Tofino, BC in 2007 on a camping/surfing trip with friends.

Laura knew she wanted to be in Tofino and as much as it pained her to be away from close friends and family on the east coast, she made the courageous decision to open her very own pharmacy in her dream location in the small Vancouver Island beachtown!

“ I’ll never forget, after surfing in Queen Of the Peak, Jay G (founder&friend) and I got to talking about pharmacy and my future in Tofino. Jay helped inspire and encourage me to create my own pharmacy, even though I thought he was crazy. For context, the only available space in Tofino at the time was the bagel shop, plus I was voted in my university class as “least likely to open my own pharmacy” (laughs). We were able to eventually find my dream location and collaborate with the owners of the building, Derek and Kristy, to open a health centre pharmacy here on First Street! “

Laura mentions that putting together the design and plan of her pharmacy was incredibly exciting, fun, and creative. She and Jay took meticulous time scouting out different pharmacies around BC, looking for inspiration and insight to the environment they felt compelled to develop with local builder Chris Grice of Tuff City Builders. Every aspect of the building from the warm lighting, to the wooden floors and counters were all a part of a carefully produced plan to create the most welcoming and unique pharmacy environment possible.

Photos from the Epic renovation in 2017

With support from family and friends that she had made working and surfing, Laura successfully opened Epic Pharmacy’s doors under the Pharmasave brand in 2013 with two staff in total. Epic Pharmacy had great success in the first 4 years of operation and in 2017, Laura had the opportunity to expand the retail. Another big design and renovation project that became what Epic Pharmacy is today!

Keeping on track with the community aspect of running a business in a small town while also staying true to the 3 pillars of Epic: Community, Retail, Pharmacy services as well as how we care for the people in our community is a huge priority for Laura.