Newnham & Slipp Pharmacy

Our History


The site where Newnham & Slipp Pharmacy sits has history. It is the location for the first pharmacy in Woodstock.

The original drug store began in 1839. The founder was Col. William T. Baird, author of Seventy Years of New Brunswick Life.

Col. Baird started a retail drug business in a building owned by George T. Williams which had formerly been a bank. The first order of goods for stocking the drugstore was supplied by Dr. Walker & Sons of Saint John, NB.  The shipment was packed in 30 water tight barrels and brought to Woodstock by towboat.

In 1878, Mr. William T. Baird transferred ownership of the business to his son, H. Paxton Baird. The business at this time was wholesale and retail and was incorporated under the law of New Brunswick as the Baird CO. Ltd in 1895.

In 1902 the retail business was sold to Mr. Edgar W. Mair.

In 1919, Mr. Mair sold the retail drug business to Mr. Godfrey P. Newnham and Mr. G. Wendall Slipp, who continued the business under its present name, “Newnham & Slipp Pharmacy”. Mr. Newnham had worked for Mr. Mair for 14 years, and Mr. Slipp had served his apprenticeship in the store 12 years before.

Godfrey Newnham and G. Wendell Slipp were in business together for 27 years until 1946, when Mr. Newnham passed away. Mr. Slipp continued to operate the drug store on his own until 1958, when he was joined in partnership by his son, George, who had completed a pharmaceutical course at Dalhousie University in Halifax in 1955.

In 1960, renovations were done to make the store a self-serve drug store and to enlarge the shopping area.

Before the death of his father in 1970, George had formed his own company in 1968, but had kept the name of Newnham & Slipp. At the time, the drug store employed about 7 full-time employees, compared to the 28 full and part-time employees, now working.

In 1977, renovations were completed to extend the store to cover the entire block from the town’s Main St. to Wellington Street, to include the area which is now the dispensary. During that year, the pharmacy became one of the top 3 pharmacies in New Brunswick rated in number of prescriptions filled.

In 1980, the pharmacy, which for many years had been associated with Rexall Drugs, became affiliated, as it is today, with Guardian, the marketing arm of the Drug Trading Company of Toronto.

George Slipp continued to run the business until January 1985, when he sold the business to Barbara Kierstead. Barbara had been an employee at the store since 1969, when she was a student intern, and had been assistant manager since 1980.

During her time as owner, the pharmacy underwent several renovations, both inside and out. Barb ran the business until March 2015, when the pharmacy was purchased by her daughter, Lee-Ann Ritchie, who had been pharmacy manager since 2003.

We look forward to continuing the tradition of providing quality service while meeting the demands of the changing times.