Margis Pharmacy

Tom Zawarynski’s plan was simple: To be “the neighbourhood pharmacist in the neighbourhood drug store.”

So he couldn’t have found a better venue than Margis, which has been operating as a pharmacy on the corner of Roncesvalles and Howard Park since 1889.

The neighbourhood was very much on Tom’s radar while he was searching for his ideal location. “It has a village feel,” he explains, “and I thought it would mesh with what I was trying to do.”

So when Margis went up for sale in 2009, Tom couldn’t resist. After all, he explains, it seemed like fate: “My mom worked across the street at what used to be the TD Bank, and as a kid I used to sit in the bank and stare across at this store. So when I saw this opportunity, I thought, ‘How crazy is it that this could come full circle?’ ”