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History of Staples Pharmacy

Staples have been in pharmacy since the late 1800's and early 1900's, starting with Alonzo Staples, who was a cousin of Cecil Staples, Founder of the present Staples Drugs Natural Pharmacy in Moncton.

Cecil's brother, Kenneth, also of Fredericton, opened a pharmacy at York & King as Staples Drugs which was an exceptionally busy store in its day with food & fountain service in addition to prescription and normal drug store merchandise. Kenneth died and the business was sold in the 1970's.

Cecil moved to St. John, N.B. where he worked for Titus Drugs for a short time. Later he joined Ross Drug and was moved to Charlottetown, PEI where he opened a Ross Drug store. In 1931, he moved to Moncton, opening Ross Drug on Main Street. In the same year, he married Lorna Munday of England, then of Saint John and began their married life in Moncton.

Cecil and Lorna had three children, daughters Pat and Shelagh and son John. All three entered pharmacy, receiving their initial certification from the College of Pharmacy. Pat and Shelagh decided to pursue interests in music and business, respectively, while John continued in pharmacy, graduating from Dalhousie University.

Cecil, in the History of Pharmacy in New Brunswick, was considered "one of their best managers", stated Ross Drug.

After a short time, Cecil was in partnership in Fairweathers Drugs (Moncton) which was in the former Creaghan building (now Dooleys) and later occupied by Creaghan's men's wear.

In 1934, Cecil went into business for himself on St. George St. in the former St. George foods (formerly Levines) building and now currently Caisse Populaire. In 1950, Cecil built the current two storey pharmacy at 319/321 St. George Street.

In 1959, John joined him as a pharmacist and managed one of their 4 stores while overseeing the other three.

Cecil died in 1986, Lorna in 1996 and John continued updating the pharmacy to its current status as a natural pharmacy, specializing in homeopathic and herbal medicines of all types.

In 1999, Dr. Ravi Kancharla, a homeopathic consultant, was provided with offices above the pharmacy as New Brunswick's first (and only) homeopath. Please see main page for more details.

John is married to Helen and they have four children: Heidi, B.Sc.(Pharmacy, Dalhousie University), M.Sc. (Clinical Nutrition, McGill University); Margaret, B.Sc.(Biology, Mount Allison University), Diploma in Dental Hygiene (Dalhousie University); Mark, B.Sc. (Chemistry, Mount Allison University), M.Sc. (Organic Chemistry, Northwestern University, USA), Diploma in Applied Information Technology (ITI Information Technology Institute) and Rosalind, B.Com. (Finance, Dalhousie University). Helen, B.A. (Mount Allison University), B.Ed. (Université de Moncton) assists John in the pharmacy as a pharmacy technician and computer systems coordinator.