BUSINESS
Wednesday, OctOber 6, 2021
HerMIstOnHeraLd.cOM • A7
Umatilla business owner is getting ready for Christmas early
shannon Gallagher is
adding new products to
entice buyers
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
It is almost three months
until Christmas Day, but
Shannon Gallagher already
is in full gear. The owner
of the home-based business
Shannon’s AmazBalls, Gal-
lagher is making her regu-
lar products and adding a
few more.
The Umatilla resident
has been in business for five
years. She started making
bath balms, which proved
popular at local events.
Then, she started branch-
ing out to make wax melts
and car freshies. Now, she
is designing tie-dye and
bleached shirts.
Recent business has
been slow, she said. When
COVID-19 hit, most pub-
lic events, which were her
bread and butter, were can-
celled. She was able to
do last year’s Hermiston
Christmas Bazaar, but she
was not able to make up
for business lost from not
doing other events. Neither
could online orders recoup
her losses.
She does try, however, to
do business online. She pro-
motes her products through
Facebook, and she has even
found ways to create fun
for her customers. She does
“product drops” in which
she fills bags with her items
and leaves them somewhere
for her social media follow-
ers to find. On Facebook,
she leaves clues as to where
the bags are, and people
then search for them.
Fun is key to her busi-
ness, she said. She always
is trying to make interest-
ing promotions and prod-
ucts. And she finds it easy
to know what her custom-
ers will consider to be fun
— if it makes her smile, she
believes it will make her
customers happy.
One example of this was
a recent T-shirt design of
the Bride of Frankenstein.
It was an unusual design,
but it caught people’s atten-
tion, drawing multiple
comments.
And though her business
makes her happy, it can be
difficult. Gallagher does
not have much use of her
left arm, lacking strength
and the ability to grasp. She
said her left arm is mostly
for support.
Her weakness has slowed
her work and made some of
it impossible. If not for the
help of her family, she may
not even be able to do it.
Tyler Picard, her fiance,
is part of Gallagher’s sup-
port. Together for eight
years, he said she is “awe-
some,” and he helps her
with products, such as soaps
and balms, which are espe-
cially difficult for her. He
and other family members
take her direction, which
allows her to not only con-
tinue her business but also
express herself artistically.
She has orders for around
a dozen shirts and is trying
to fill her orders. Also, she
is trying to make up to 40
shirts that she can sell at this
year’s Hermiston Bazaar at
the Hermiston Community
Center after Thanksgiving.
She will sell many of
the shirts along with other
products at the bazaar, but
the shirts also will serve as
an example of what she can
do. People will see them,
then custom order some-
thing similar. Christmas is a
big season for her.
It is hard work, she said,
and it is busy work. But she
feels she is good at it, she
gets good feedback about it
and she does not see a rea-
son to ever stop doing it.
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Umatilla resident Shannon Gallagher, owner of the home-
based business Shannon’s AmazBalls, sprays bleach on one of
her designed T-shirts.
Bi-Mart to sell pharmacy business to Walgreens
Walgreens welcomes bi-Mart
patients and employees
eO Media Group
Bi-Mart announced Thurs-
day, Sept. 30, that Walgreens
will acquire Bi-Mart’s phar-
macy business, including “phar-
macy patient prescription files
and related pharmacy inven-
tory of 56 Bi-Mart pharmacies
located across Oregon, Idaho
and Washington.”
“This decision, while diffi-
cult, is strategically important as
we move to strengthen our solid
financial position and expand
our plans for future growth in the
Northwest,” Rich Truett, Bi-Mart
president and CEO, said.
Current Bi-Mart pharmacy
staff members will be offered an
opportunity to join Walgreens.
“We look forward to wel-
coming Bi-Mart patients to Wal-
greens pharmacy services, as
well as providing employment
opportunities to Bi-Mart phar-
macy associates in available
positions throughout our stores
where they can continue to meet
the needs of their patients,” Wal-
greens regional Vice President
Rob Ewing said.
Don Leber, vice president of
marketing and advertising for
Bi-Mart, said the transition has
been discussed for quite some
time.
“It’s been worked on for sev-
eral months,” he said. “We started
this process two to four years
ago with other locations when
we transferred (the pharmacies
of) 20 stores to see if we could
make them more profitable.”
Most prescription infor-
mation will be transferred to
nearby stores, according to a
press release from the two com-
panies. In areas that do not
have a Walgreens nearby, how-
ever, Walgreens will operate
already-existing
pharmacies
in Bi-Mart locations under the
Walgreens brand.
Phil Wright/Hermiston Herald
A customer waits outside the pharmacy window Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021,
at the Pendleton Bi-Mart. The cooperative that same day announced
Walgreens will acquire Bi-Mart’s pharmacy business of 56 Bi-Mart
pharmacies across Oregon, Idaho and Washington.
It’s not yet known if that will
be the case in four northeast Ore-
gon Bi-Mart locations in Herm-
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iston, Pendleton, La Grande or
Baker City. The Walgreens loca-
tions nearest to Northeastern
Oregon are in Tri-Cities, Wash-
ington, or Ontario.
A list of which Bi-Mart loca-
tions would house a Walgreens
pharmacy was not available, Phil
Caruso with Walgreens media
relations, noting that the deal
is subject to customary closing
conditions.
Caruso did say that once the
transfer is complete, new patients
will have access to “all the ben-
efits of Walgreens,” including
health screenings, immuniza-
tions, omni-channel support that
includes access to pharmacists,
and “adherence-boosting pro-
grams” through a mobile device
such as daily pill reminders and
refill by scan.
Patients who are having their
prescriptions transferred will be
notified by mail, and “both com-
panies will work together to help
ensure a smooth transition for
pharmacy patients,” the release
stated.
The file transfer should be
complete by January 2022.
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