A little more than a month after the opening of its new location, Family Pharmacy hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday with Greater Enid Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the pharmacy’s new location.
Family Pharmacy staff and representatives of the chamber gathered at the front doors of the new location, 826 E. Garriott, while Grant Diel, director of operations of Family Pharmacy, snipped the red ribbon with the giant pair of scissors.
“We are excited to see our local businesses expanding, especially at a time that’s been so challenging,” said Jon Blankenship, chamber president and CEO. “It’s great to see that happening, and I’m sure that they’ll continue to have long-term success and continue to give back to the community.” 
Family Pharmacy has been a member with the chamber since 2008, and the new location opened its doors Dec. 7, but the ceremony was held later in support of the new location.
“One of the huge benefits (of being a member) is this ribbon cutting,” Diel said, “to have everybody come out here and support us and see the building and all the work that we’ve put in.”
The new location has a drive-through pick-up option and is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. The phone number is (580) 233-4244.
In 2008, Diel’s parents Greg and Ginger Diel purchased the pharmacy from the previous owners, who had been operating Family Pharmacy since 1986, according to its website. A second location opened in 2008 in Jumbo Foods on Willow, and the third one in 2010 in Jumbo Foods on 30th.
The old location was right across the street on Garriott in a medical building, but Diel said when the medical providers left, Family Pharmacy decided to move, as well.
When deciding on the new site, Diel said the pharmacy saw in some research that the east side of Enid saw just as much traffic as the western part, and since most of its customers are based on the east side, the new spot was the perfect place.
“We had a lot of conversations with people when we were planning to build right here, because some people questioned if it was a good idea to build over here, or maybe we should build somewhere else more centralized to Enid,” Diel said. “We did some feasibility studies to see traffic count and did all those numbers … So it was kind of an easy decision for us to say, ‘Let’s just invest right across the street.’”
As most prescriptions are electronically sent or faxed or phoned in to pharmacies as opposed to written out on paper, Diel said the location, contracted and developed locally by Blevins and Co., gives staff enough time to receive and prepare medications before customers actually arrive to pick up their prescriptions.
Diel said they had purchased Heritage Pharmacy in Hennessey in 2016, and about 75% of prescriptions picked up there are done so through the drive-through, and the new place in Enid gives customers that drive-through option to pick up prescriptions, which gives it the ability to compete with larger chains in the area.
Diel said Family Pharmacy closed its lobbies in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and serviced people through the drive through and pick-up windows. Upon reopening, the locations, including the new one, have permanently installed plexiglass sneeze guards at each location, Diel said, to help protect staff and customers and keep them healthy.
The pharmacy offers free daily deliveries in Enid, Waukomis and Hennessey, and on Thursday, it delivers to Garber and Billings, Diel said, and he said the pharmacy has partnered with Jumbo Foods to offer grocery deliveries on top of prescription deliveries, adding to the pharmacy doing its part to better serve the community.
“What we’ve built our business off of for the last 12 years is we work for the patients — they’re our number one priority,” Diel said. “We want to take care of the patient at the patient level and make sure that when the patient leaves here, they either got answers or they’re satisfied with the service that we’re giving them.”