SHERBROOKE – Residents in the Municipality of the District of St. Mary’s face the loss of their only local pharmacy next month.
Shoppers Drug Mart announced last week that its Sherbrooke operation will close on June 11, ending the community’s only in-person pharmacy service after nearly a year of temporary operations from a trailer in the municipal parking lot.
On Monday, Atlantic Superstore in Antigonish posted on social media that its pharmacy will begin offering weekly prescription delivery service to Sherbrooke beginning the week of June 22 – 11 days after the Sherbrooke pharmacy closes. Loblaw Companies Ltd. owns both Shoppers Drug Mart and Atlantic Superstore.
“Prescriptions will be available for pickup weekly at the Sherbrooke Library at a scheduled set time,” the post said, adding that residents can transfer prescriptions by phone through the Antigonish pharmacy.
Some residents welcomed the announcement, particularly those concerned about how seniors, families and people with chronic illnesses would access medications after the closure.
“That would be wonderful especially for the seniors who have no access to vehicles,” one resident wrote online. “Good job Superstore.”
Others, however, cautioned that prescription pickup alone does not replace the broader role a local pharmacy plays in a rural community.
“We need more than prescription delivery,” another resident wrote in response to the announcement. “We need a drug store in Sherbrooke with the pharmacy staff that provide advice on medication, prescription and non-prescription, and the store front back.”
The pharmacy closure notice alarmed residents and municipal officials, who warned the withdrawal of the area’s only pharmacy would leave many people facing lengthy trips to Antigonish for prescriptions and consultations.
Port Bickerton resident Rosemary Hiltz told The Journal at the time that the loss would profoundly affect her aging parents and her husband, who, she said, “has so many heart medications.”
“If the pharmacy leaves and any of the four of us are ill, we would have to go to our family doctor in Sherbrooke, then have to leave for Antigonish to get our medication,” she said. “It would be a very long, tiring day.”
A notice circulated on social media last week said: “Effective June 11, 2026, Shoppers Drug Mart #159 Sherbrooke N.S. will be closing permanently.”
The notice said prescriptions and health records not transferred elsewhere before that date would automatically move to Shoppers Drug Mart in Antigonish.
No reason for the closure has been publicly provided.
A call to Adam MacDougall – listed in contact information shared with The Journal by St. Mary’s Warden James Fuller as associate-owner of Shoppers Drug Mart locations in Antigonish – seeking clarification was not returned before press time.
During St. Mary’s May 20 council meeting, Fuller said council was disappointed by the decision.
“We can’t make them stay, we can’t make them go, but we’re going to do what we can to bring somebody in if possible,” he said.
Sherbrooke’s pharmacy troubles began last June when the community’s Main St. Shoppers Drug Mart abruptly closed after an unspecified structural issue with the building was cited.
The municipality subsequently opened a temporary prescription pickup depot at its office while prescriptions were managed through Shoppers Drug Mart in Antigonish.
By August, pharmacy services resumed through a temporary trailer beside the closed building.
Earlier this year, St. Mary’s council declared municipally owned land surplus for possible pharmacy development and launched an expression-of-interest process seeking developers interested in establishing a long-term pharmacy presence in the community.
Chief Administrative Officer Lesley McFarlane said during last week’s council meeting that the municipality had spent months trying to secure a permanent solution while allowing Shoppers to continue operating temporarily from municipal property.
“The municipality has been since last year providing them free space in the municipal parking lot for them to operate their business out of, which is a significant advantage,” McFarlane said. “And they’ve had that time to hopefully find a solution, which unfortunately hasn’t happened.”
McFarlane said the municipality continues to circulate its proposal to pharmacy operators and developers across the region and remains hopeful a replacement can still be found. The submission deadline is Thursday, June 19.
For residents like Hiltz, the new delivery program may ease some immediate pressure, but uncertainty remains over the community’s long-term access to frontline pharmacy care.
“My father was looking forward to moving into Sherbrooke close to his doctor,” she said. “He doesn’t drive, many seniors with no licence would be in the same boat.”
“It is too bad we are losing this very important part of our community and business.”
With files fromJoanne Jordan
