London Drugs, BC Children's Hospital and BC150
This morning I was invited to the store opening of the shiny new London Drugs on West Broadway. The BC-based London Drugs stores have been around for 60 years and have stores across Western Canada.
This particular location is a few meters away from the old spot (at 525 West Broadway), and as the new flagship store, it’s almost double the size. From kitchen wares, to all-natural cosmetics and MacBooks, it’s the same old LD goodness, only mega-sized.
However, it’s not every day that a store opening can get me out of bed by 6am, the main reason I attended was to learn about their involvement with the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. Being a dedicated auntie of 5, this is a facility, foundation, and cause that is very worthy of my attention.
Before the official announcements and presentations, we were treated to a performance by the Simon Fraser Elementary Children’s Peace Choir.
“The charitable contributions of London Drugs are based on the philosophy of the Louie family are presented to them by H.Y. Louie in a series of family letters.”
On hand to share a very personal story of recovery was a 16 year old girl who had been undergoing treatments since she was in kindergarden and eventually had a kidney transplant. She’s been doing well for the last few years thanks to the care she received at the BC Children’s Hospital.
Today was the launch of the “Hope Tote” at London Drugs stores. For $3 you can purchase a reusable tote bag that is reflective and that kids can also colour with markers. With 100% of the sales going to the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, they’re a great alternative to wrapping paper.
London Drugs is also selling a BC 150 commemorative calendar for $29 that features images from across BC, $5 from each sale of the calendar goes to the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation.
BC 150 is a year-long celebration of BC’s 150th birthday. I have a few posts up about spirit squares and events across the province, and tomorrow there will be an official ceremony over in Fort Langley. “James Douglas stood in the Big House at Fort Langley on November 19, 1858 and read out the proclamation that declared British Columbia a Crown Colony.” There will be no fees to enter Fort Langley tomorrow for Douglas Day, and there will be a concert starting at 4:30pm featuring The Higgins and Jessie Farrell.
You can view the rest of my photos in my Flickr set
Entries on this website use the 
Cool, looks fun. Did you look at their stuff? Any of my photos? They used a few of mine in some of their other publications.
I was going to thumb through the calendar but I didn’t get a chance – I was totally thinking I might see something of yours in there though
Speaking of photos, the ones in your post look great. May I ask what you shoot with?
I was just using my husband’s Canon Powershot S5IS, it’s nice and handy and a little more meaty than a pocket-cam.
I walked by the store yesterday and I wasn’t pleased with the crowd drawing stunt they were doing.
http://tawcan.blogspot.com/2008/11/bit-outraged.html
@ Tawcan – Oh weird. You’d think they wouldn’t need to do that since a) it was opening this morning and b) it’s only like 200 ft from the old location.
Hmmm weird I was able to walk into the store and check it out last night. Maybe today was the “official” opening.
Yeah, cause the first guy in today got to cut the ribbon and receive a gift card. That shoulda been you!
Ah yes the old LD West Broadway location was a bit meh. I wonder if employees still have to pay for parking during their shift. I used to work for LD, just not that location.
Did you know that their home computer brand Certified Data (made by sister company TLD) is the 2nd largest brand of computers next to Compaq/HP ? Or so their history and marketing people told me. Used to work for TLD for a bit too! lol
Nice shots though with the Canon S5. Great little camera with a wicked focal length!
[...] November I was on a panel at the Making a Scene conference, I covered a store opening/charity announcement, and I had a speaking engagement for a group of First Nations youth embarking on a social media [...]
The parking was much better at old LD location. You get your $1 reimberced regardless of the amount spent. At the new location you have to spend minimum $15!