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Dedicated Community Pharmacy Eager To Sell Online

by Morgan Baker   |   August 26, 2020   |   Share this:  

The Cotton Mill Pharmacy is a neighbourhood pharmacy in Cornwall, Ontario, approximately 3 hours Northeast of Toronto. They are incredibly community driven, with the mission to offer their customers a warm and safe shopping experience by going above and beyond to engage with their locality. The Cotton Mill Pharmacy offers an everyday 10% discount to their senior clients, and with the onset of COVID-19, began donating a portion of their hand sanitizers and personal protective equipment (PPE) to those most vulnerable in their community.

Digital Main Street ShopHERE Program powered by Google Graduate, Cotton Mill Pharmacy

Cornwall hugs the border between Ontario and New York State, and as such, the border closure resulting from the pandemic outbreak has had a heavy impact on the community. The economic impact of the shrinking market, the social impact of friends and family residing on the other side of the border, and the health impact, both mental and physical, has rocked this community.

“As a small business on the front lines, we wanted to help the greater community by producing premium hand sanitizer made from our pharmaceutical ingredients.” Cotton Mill Pharmacy was quick to respond, and in doing so, they were able to offer this high grade product made on site to their community.

“When the pandemic hit, Andrew Hanna (Cotton Mill Pharmacy’s Expert Compounding Consultant & Pharmacist) immediately dove into quickly securing both Kn-95 masks and formulating a new silky smooth hand sanitizer. All in an effort to help the community and his clientele stay safe. In doing so, he's donated hundreds of masks to local organizations in need. Andrew formulated a premium Natural Hand Sanitizer that is both silky smooth on your hands and doesn't reek like alcohol – considered a Natural product by Health Canada. This is so important as we've seen over 50 recalled hand sanitizers in Canada and the CMP (Cotton Mill Pharmacy) hand sanitizers are made with Isopropyl Alcohol – a pharmaceutical grade premium alcohol. The quality differentiator became so evident that most of Cornwall uses his Hand Sanitizers as customers rave on it's smooth, non-grainy, formula.” says Jacob Mochinsky, the Business Development Director at Cotton Mill Pharmacy.

Digital Main Street ShopHERE Program powered by Google Graduate, Cotton Mill Pharmacy

Hand sanitizer was becoming increasingly scarce across Canada, and having developed their own premium and effective product meant that the Cotton Mill Pharmacy was able to consistently offer this high-demand item, and keep their community safe. Being such a community-driven business, Cotton Mill Pharmacy soon began donating a portion of the hand sanitizer to the at risk populations in Cornwall.

While the Cotton Mill Pharmacy is a staple part of the community in Cornwall, they lacked an online presence prior to COVID-19. With the creation of their premium hand sanitizer, they sought to offer these vital products to a wider market and help more families across Canada. The ShopHERE Powered By Google Program was the perfect solution to quickly get Cotton Mill Pharmacy’s online store up and running, and help spread the word of how a small community pharmacy can make a difference. As part of the program, Cotton Mill Pharmacy was paired up with an eCommerce Coordinator who created a Shopify store for the pharmacy, provided training on the platform and initial marketing. ShopHERE worked with Cotton Mill Pharmacy to create a platform to serve Canada and promote their giving and charitable message in these tumultuous times.

Digital Main Street ShopHERE Program powered by Google Graduate, Cotton Mill Pharmacy

Andrew Hanna and the Cotton Mill Pharmacy have received recognition from the Province of Ontario for their dedication to their community and the generous response they have demonstrated during the pandemic. Shop Cotton Mill Pharmacy here, and find out if your business is eligible for the ShopHERE Program here!

About Digital Main Street

Digital Main Street was created by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) with direct support from the City of Toronto. DMS is also supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Meta, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, Lightspeed, Ebay and Canada Post.

A $7.45 million from the Province of Ontario brought together the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, Communitech, Invest Ottawa and the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association to expand the Digital Main Street Platform in order to support more businesses going digital as a response to the impacts of COVID-19 in Northern Ontario.

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