B-Z Davis started working at Kenmore’s Ostroms Drug &Gift while she was a student at Bothell High School more than 30 years ago. She never left and she never changed careers.
She stayed for the same reasons customers have stayed: the Ostroms’ family. The Ostroms family includes customers, members of the Kenmore, Lake Forest Park and Shoreline community, the pharmacy’s father-son ownership team, and employees – many whom are also long-time staff members.
In mid-April, when Ostroms moved to a new location at 6414 NE Bothell Way, Davis will be moving too. She is not much of a chameleon, but she knows that this new store will be worth the change.
Davis is in charge of selecting and stocking the wide variety of gift items sold at Ostroms.
“I’ve worked at Ostroms for 30 plus years, I raised my family in the same Bothell home I grew up in, and my children went to the schools I did,” Davis said. “That said, I’m very excited about the Ostroms change. Devoted Ostroms customers aren’t worried about finding the pharmacy’s new location; it’s only one-half mile away from our current building.”
Davis has a legacy in the Kenmore community. Besides growing up in Bothell and attending Maywood Hills Elementary, Canyon Park Junior High and Bothell High School, she served on the Northshore school board for 16 years.
“While I was on the school board, people could come in to Ostroms to talk about what was happening in their child’s education and I appreciated being available to them,” said Davis.
Today, Davis’ two children Kip, 34, and Megan, 30, have stayed in the area and are raising their own children.
Davis has been able to maintain a healthy work-life balance during her time at Ostroms. She currently spends Wednesdays with her two grandchildren and enjoys regular visits to Lake Kachess with her husband.
Outgoing and energetic by nature, Davis is not burdened by listening to customer’s opinions and stories. The same is true for the other 23 employees who work at Ostroms.
“Todd Ramsey, our store owner, and Bill Briggs, our lead pharmacist, are trusted by the community. Even Dee Bjarnason, who works at the store’s checkout, knows there’s a difference between working in a store and working with an organization you believe in,” Davis said.
It’s a lesson that Davis learned early and has maintained throughout her career at Ostroms. She knows how important it is to greet strangers and friends alike when they enter the store.
“I started talking about books with one customer years ago,” she said. “Now, every time she comes in, we talk about the books we’ve read recently. I have a book waiting for her in my office right now.”
“Kenmore is small, but people come from all over to shop at Ostroms,” Laurie Squires, a 35-year Ostroms pharmacy customer said. “Ostroms is what you think a pharmacy should be. I won’t go anywhere else.”
Davis states, “The Ostroms move is about getting rid of the old and bringing all that is good about the pharmacy and the gift shop into our new location.” For Davis, this includes a carefully selected stock of unique gift merchandise.
This excites Squires, who comes to Ostroms for the care she receives from the pharmacists, but enjoys shopping in the gift store too.
“I enjoy finding that perfect gift for family members and friends when I shop the Ostroms jewelry department, cookware collection or candy assortment,” Squires said. “I have taken my friends to show them all the unique items. Now they shop at Ostroms.”
Ostroms serves communities throughout the greater north Lake Washington area including Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Bothell, and Shoreline. The new pharmacy will include a convenient drive thru window, a kid-safe play space, 28 parking spots, and an electronic message board in the parking lot.
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