The story of Higgins Pharmacy first began almost 70 years ago when Mr. Chris Higgins, originally from Tubbercurry, opened the doors of the Teeling Street pharmacy in Sligo town in 1948.
Chris had been just two years qualified as a pharmacist and he and his wife Betty built up a business that became an integral part of Sligo town.
The couple lived on Circular Road in Sligo town and three of their four children followed in Chris’ footsteps to become pharmacists. Stella, Ann Christine and Ken Higgins worked their summers as teenagers in the family pharmacy and it was their that they fell in love with the profession.
All three siblings studied at different colleges to become pharmacists and eventually joined Higgins Pharmacy — a unique story in any business.
Stella was the first to start working in the pharmacy when she was just 16 before qualifying as a pharmacist in 1974 while Ken, after some years studying and working in Scotland and England, joined the family business in 1986.
Ann Christine travelled the world before coming back and joining the family business in 1997, working mainly in Market Cross, which they bought the following year.
Higgins’ second pharmacy, on Market Cross, was originally Slowey’s and was bought by the Higgins family at an auction. It opened under the Higgins name in January 1998 – 50 years exactly after the first pharmacy opened its doors.
Chris ran the business for three decades with the three siblings and their parents going on to take equal shares in the business. In September 2016, the Higgins family sold both their pharmacies to twin pharmacists Ann and Deirdre Butler.
