Dr. Christa Hayes of Jemison has known exactly what career she wanted to pursue since she was 18 years old.

She made the decision while working for Richard Wood at Wood Drug Company in Thorsby.

It was her first job out of high school, and it led her to her dream job.

“He inspired me,” Hayes said of Wood, whose pharmacy was located across the street from Thorsby Drugs, the pharmacy Hayes and her husband Jeremy opened June 25.

Initially, Hayes said she wanted to take over Wood Drug Company when Wood retired, but he passed away before she went to pharmacy school.

“Ever since Richard passed away, Thorsby has needed a drugstore,” Hayes said. “I’m happy and honored that I’m able to be the person to open the store and serve the community.”

 

Hayes, 33, completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Montevallo and graduated from Samford University’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy in 2007.

While in school, she worked full-time at Shelby Baptist Medical Center as both a pharmacy technician and pharmacy student for five years.

Her last two years as a student, Hayes worked part-time at Rite-Aid.

“I started my career as a licensed pharmacist at CVS in Selma, and a year later, I was hired at Walmart in Clanton,” she said.

About two years later, Hayes said she had the opportunity to work at an independent pharmacy in Helena, whose pharmacist passed away two weeks after his store opened.

“I then decided that I wanted to try to open my own independent pharmacy in Thorsby, like I had always wanted to do,” she said. “It’s a great feeling to be right across the street from where I started. Essentially, it is a dream come true.”

Thorsby Drugs is the first pharmacy to open in the town in 10 years.

Hayes and her husband live in Jemison and have two children, Alyssa, 4, and Joshua, 3.

Thorsby Drugs is located on Highway 31 in Thorsby. Store hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday–Friday. Starting in July, it will be open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For more information, call (205) 688-DRUG (3784).