In 1904, with capital of $500, he opened his own pharmacy at Queen Street East and Lee Avenue, in Toronto’s Beaches neighbourhood.
[2] Tamblyn's Cut Rate Drugs featured a soda fountain, as was common for druggists in the early 20th century.
During the 1920s, Tamblyn's chain expanded to about 60 stores, mainly in the Toronto area,[2] and eventually other parts of Ontario, including Barrie,[3] Chatham-Kent,[1] Guelph,[2] Sarnia[4] The chain was purchased by United Cigar Stores a few years after the first location opened, as the company had begun expanding.
Tamblyn remained in control of the company's drug store operations, and in 1929 he was able to reacquire the business.
[5] Tamblyn died in 1933,[1] however the company continued to operate through The Great Depression and remained prosperous in the post-World War II era.