By Joe Bachman
Editor

STEVENS POINT — A former Stevens Point Shopko pharmacist manager will head operations for a new downtown pharmacy opening in March.

Taking over the former Robin’s Nest location at 1129 Main St. will be Hometown Pharmacy, headed by UW-Stevens Point graduate Tessa Sain. Sain was born in Wausau and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from UWSP. After much research post-graduation, Sain settled on pursuing a career as a pharmacist, and soon attended pharmacy school at Concordia University.

“I always knew that I wanted a job that would allow me to help people,” said Sain in an interview with the Gazette. “When I was trying to decide what career I wanted to pursue, after doing some research, I knew that being a pharmacist would be a perfect fit for me.”

Hometown Pharmacy logo. (Photo courtesy: hometownpharmacywi.com)

Sain is no stranger to the area as she won’t move far from her prior position as Pharmacist Manager for the closing Stevens Point Shopko location. After establishing many relationships in the community, Sain knew she wanted to stay in the area if she could — and then she received the call from Hometown Pharmacy.

What is Hometown Pharmacy?

Hometown Pharmacy is a Wisconsin-based organization which offers any and all services other pharmacies would normally provide, and more. This includes prescription delivery services, bubble (med) packing, over-the-counter medication, supplements, as well as mail out services and gifts. They have been serving the Wisconsin area for 16 years now with over 60 locations, and according to Sain, will offer personalized one-on-one service, competitive costs, and will accept most insurance plans.

However, Sain comments that while many would think driving prescriptions is force behind a successful pharmacy, she will actually set out to reduce that number in the name of good health.

Tessa Sain (Contributed Photo)

“A big thing that separates us from others is that we may be the only pharmacy actively working to help reduce the need for prescriptions,” said Sain. “It is our goal to try and help people get healthy and stay healthy, so that they hopefully won’t need prescriptions (but if they do, we’ll be there).

Another big thing is the one-on-one service we will be able to provide to our patients. Our goal isn’t to fill as many prescriptions as possible — we see people instead of a number. Our goal is to take care of our patients by providing personalized service.”

If preferred, patients will be able to make the switch with relative ease from other pharmacies in the area. The company has an expected opening date of March 1.

“I am so excited for this pharmacy to open,” said Sain. “I absolutely love the downtown Stevens Point community, and I can’t wait to be to able to help people with their medications. I hope I will be able to see some of my old Shopko patients there!”

For more information, please visit https://hometownpharmacywi.com/