Generations of Pioneers
Wilfrid-Étienne Brunet, who founded the first pharmacy bearing his name on June 1, 1855, was ahead of his time. The impressive four-storey building erected in 1874 at the corner of Saint-Joseph and Sainte-Anne (later renamed De la Chapelle) streets in Quebec City was not only one of the largest and most modern in Canada at that time, but also housed Quebec’s largest pharmacy.
Passers-by would gather in front of its windows to admire the large aquariums, which were a rarity in the nineteenth century.
Illustration: Portrait of Wilfrid-Étienne Brunet, founder of Pharmacies Brunet. Photo: Archives nationales du Québec, Quebec City.
The advice of the week:
How to get rid of a plantar wart
A plantar wart may cause sharp pain when you walk, or you may not even notice it and it will disappear by itself in a few months.
In 1940, customers of the Brunet pharmacy on Saint-Joseph were surprised to see its doors open in front of them, like magic, when they entered or left the store. This automatic door-opening system, which used a motion detector, was a first in Quebec – yet another example of the innovations that Brunet administrators implemented to simplify their customers’ lives.
That same year, another first, albeit less spectacular, made waves for pharmacies throughout Quebec. The Brunet pharmacy opened its dispensary to the public, giving a view of pharmacists at work in front of shelves filled with glass bottles.
On the pharmacy’s 100th anniversary, in 1955, the laboratory was renovated to accommodate the very latest equipment. Behind the prescription counter, it took six pharmacists filling 150 prescriptions per day to keep up with demand.
In 1982, the Brunet chain, which included five stores, was purchased by a group of five pharmacists from Quebec City. Then-president Dr. Willie Brunet continued to practise until 2002; he died the following year at age 77.
Illustration: The dispensary at the pharmacy on Saint-Joseph Street after the renovations in 1940. The dispensary remains at the back of the pharmacy today.
A hundred and fifty-five years of "Your health is all that matters"
Since its acquisition in 1987 by McMahon Distributeur pharmaceutique inc., the Brunet chain (then comprising 11 stores) has kept more than just the name of the family that ran it for four generations; it has also stayed true to its founder’s values: a passion for the profession and a constant concern for its customers’ health. In fact, in 1986, 12 years before enactment of the Tobacco Act, Brunet was the first chain to remove tobacco products from its shelves.
Three years later, Brunet responded to the growing concern about depletion of the ozone layer by launching its Gardez l’air en santé (clean air) campaign. It was the first chain to stop selling products containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the main cause of ozone layer destruction.
Brunet was also a pioneer in Quebec when it organized nurse and dietician services at all of its stores.
As a major supporter in the fight against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), Brunet partnered with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux in 1991 to promote condom use. Ten years later, as part of World AIDS Day, the chain handed out 15,000 free condoms at its stores and through its Web site – another Quebec first.
Brunet Today
Even after being in business for more than 150 years, Brunet keeps expanding at a remarkable pace.
Phenomenal growth
The Brunet network continues to grow year after year. Launched in August 2009, the Brunet Plus concept offers not only highly personalized service, but also a wide variety of health and beauty products and an extensive range of dermocosmetics.
Now numbering 22 stores, the Brunet Plus pharmacies, all of which have a surface area of over 7,000 sq. ft., have delighted customers and been a springboard for future growth of the Brunet network.
Another concept, Brunet Clinique, was launched in June 2010 and has been well received. Brunet Clinique stores, each with a surface area of 1,000–3,000 sq. ft., stock all essential products along with other items that you’d expect to find at a pharmacy, and they offer Brunet’s famous personalized service. This concept will increase the visibility of the Brunet name throughout Quebec and lend the support and recognition of the Brunet name to smaller pharmacies. Every month, new Brunet Clinique stores are being added to the seven existing stores.
Regardless of the concept, all Brunet pharmacies in Quebec have the same mission:
Offer the most personalized professional health services and advice in Quebec
This mission is reflected in our involvement in the community and with institutions such as Université Laval, which boasts a Brunet practice laboratory and a Brunet-sponsored annual health symposium. We also support Université de Montréal through a large-scale pharmacy-management project.
Brunet innovated yet again in January 2011 with the launch of its MaSanté professional services program, enabling pharmacists to offer their customers a complete range of up-to-date, personalized services.
The new services include:
- Automatic online prescription renewal
- Online consultation with a pharmacist
- Online access for patients to their drug files, another first in Quebec
These are just a few of the services that Brunet offers. Visit your local Brunet-affiliated pharmacist to learn more.
