Dounias Pharmacy

About

Dounias Pharmacy
"Old Fashioned Service"
Prescriptions | Health & Beauty | Vitamins | Passport Photos | Gifts
92 Lygon Street, East Brunswick (Corner Weston St)
Open: Mon-Fri 9am to 6pm, Sat 9am to 1pm

Story

Christina Dounias and staff provide good “old fashioned service” to all customers, offering a personal service that is more than just a retail transaction, but rather a caring health service – what Pharmacy should be.

Located at the corner of Lygon and Weston Streets, East Brunswick, this Pharmacy has occupied this same since 1890.
These premises have continuously operated as a Pharmacy to this day and is believed to be one of the longest continuously operated Pharmacy sites in Australia.
The Pharmacy was built and operated by a Pharmacist (surname believed to be Smith) in 1890.
In the 1920’s the building was extended along Lygon Street, by Pharmacist Ray Chandler, as can be noticed by a step in the building and the differing Architecture.
The business was then run by Pharmacists Don Rodwell Sr. and then Don Rodwell Jr. from the late 1930’s to 1968.
Pharmacist Paul Defreitas then operated the Pharmacy from 1968 until 1988, when current Pharmacist, Christina Dounias, acquired the business on 23rd July 1988.
A cantilevered canopy verandah that was constructed during the 1950’s (as part of a "modernisation" of Melbourne program for the 1956 Olympics), replacing the original post verandah, was removed in 2006 and replaced with the current cast iron post verandah.
The Profile Picture, taken in 1936, shows the original post verandah, the building extension along Lygon Street and previous houses along Weston Street. The sign above the verandah reads “Ray Chandler, Cash Chemist”.