After spending years on the second floor of a Park City building, Karin Carestia knew it was time for a change.
Her business, Alpine Apothecary, was outgrowing its small space and Carestia had long yearned for a location that would provide a street-level storefront and more foot traffic.
“Most people were coming into town to come to the pharmacy,” she said. “People would make remarks that this is the only reason they were coming into town.”
So she set about finding a new space that would be more accessible to her customer base. In July, she moved the store out of the city, to Newpark, at 1675 W. Redstone Center Drive.
The move has been a success so far and has brought greater visibility to her store, which she said fills an important niche. A compounding pharmacy, Alpine Apothecary provides medication tailored to customers. For instance, it can provide various dosages of medication, whereas a large scale pharmacy may only produce one dosage to fit the needs of most — but not all — people.
“We’re going back to that old tradition,” Carestia said. “We fill the areas where the pharmaceutical industry can’t meet all the needs.”
The process of tailoring prescriptions to suit individual needs begins in the lab in the back of the store, with Carestia using pure powders to make a customized product. One popular medication she creates is a pain cream that combines a muscle relaxer, an anti-inflammatory and a numbing agent.
“We can put that all in one product, as opposed to having to use multiple products,” she said.
Alpine’s line of skincare treatments is also popular. The products are made with natural ingredients, such as cocoa butter, shea butter and vitamin D.
“We have several products where I tell people, ‘You can eat it if you wanted to,'” Carestia said. “I can’t guarantee the taste, but you can do that because we’ve made our own cream bases.”
Caffeine and creatine, products not normally associated with skincare, are even included in some of the treatments.
“We make sure to put them in the cream at the proper percentages,” Carestia said. “It’s not about just being able to say, ‘It’s got this and this in it.’ It needs to be at the right strengths.”
Carestia said it took about two years — and a lot of trial and error — to get the skincare products just right. But they have been a hit with customers since debuting in 2012.
“I’m not someone who spends a lot of time with cosmetics,” she said. “But I think a lot of us — and I hear this from a lot of women right around their 40s — we realize we’re putting a lot of effort into staying in shape and keeping healthy. And we don’t want to have to look that much older than we are. Part of feeling good is feeling good about the way we look.”
Alpine Apothecary will be showing off its new building and its products in an open house Oct. 2 that will feature discounts and a behind-the-scenes look at the lab where the medications are made, among other activities. To attend, please RSVP to the apothecary at 435-615-0070.