Tim’s Pharmacy & Gift Shop remains under construction after its remodel began in late July. The Yelm business, 106 First St. S., is finishing its new pharmacy area and preparing to redo its parking lot to put in a drive-thru.
The store has already completed its new roof and a dormer, which will soon feature a sign with the business’s name on it. Customers can now see the work being done next to Holy Grounds Coffee on the far side of the store, as the wall was torn down to reveal the upcoming pharmacy area. Work on the parking lot will begin within the next month, owner Will Quinby said, and the flooring will also be redone throughout the whole store.
Last summer, the initial goal was to complete the remodel by the end of the year, but Quinby noted that the goal date was arbitrary.
“You never know what you’re going to get until you get into it with some of these things. It’s like remodeling a really large house,” he said. “You come across all kinds of little things, and you want it to be done right.”
Quinby said construction in the parking lot will affect customers only slightly, as equipment and asphalting may interrupt the flow of traffic. The front of the parking lot will not be altered, but on the side of the building where the drive-thru will be placed, there will be a one-way flow once construction is complete. There will be signs and markers to direct traffic.
As for inside the store, customers will remain unaffected by the ongoing construction, something that Quinby said they have appreciated.
“The response from the community has been really positive. The idea of the dormer with the sign is a big one,” he said. “For years, we’ve had people drive by and come in and say, ‘I drove by this all the time and had no idea there was a pharmacy back here.’ We’ve always planned on doing something a little better as far as signage is concerned.”
Quinby said that once the remodel is complete, Tim’s Pharmacy will look like a completely different building.
“Between that and the Masonry Cafe and the Old Firehouse, I think this corner here is going to be a really nice storefront area for the city, so people will drive in, and it will be nice,” he added. “I’m thankful for everyone being patient through it all. When the project’s all finished, I think people will be happy with what we did and hopefully they’ll enjoy the change.”
Quinby doesn’t have a timeframe for when the project will be done, but he anticipates the majority of the work will be completed sometime this spring.
