Green Island Boutique Pharmacy announced in a post on social media it would be permanently closing at noon tomorrow after nine years of business.
“This decision has not been easy, but with the current funding challenges facing small independent pharmacies, it has become increasingly difficult to remain sustainable while providing the level of care we have always strived for,” it said.
Its two pharmacists were both locally trained at the University of Otago and had more than a decade of experience.
They could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Balmac Pharmacy co-owner Rohini Dias said most people tended to shop at chain pharmacies such as Bargain Chemist and Chemist Warehouse, as opposed to independent pharmacies, because they did not charge for prescriptions.
“If you have more of the other chain pharmacies everywhere, probably other pharmacies may have to close.”
Their clientele at Balmac Pharmacy were usually locals who came to them most of the time.
But if they could get their prescriptions free of charge elsewhere, some may opt to go there instead.
If a lot of chain pharmacies started cropping up there would be “probably no point doing the pharmacy any more,” Mrs Dias said.
Balmac Pharmacy was well-established in the area and there were no chain stores in their immediate vicinity — at least not yet.
“Hopefully not, but we never know what will happen later.”
A Dunedin pharmacist working at both chain and independent stores, who declined to be named, said independent pharmacies were going through “very, very difficult times”.
Pharmacists were in short supply and it was also very difficult for them to compete with chain pharmacies because of their free prescriptions.
“That is the big challenge at the moment.”
Chain pharmacies also offered a good salary, “a lot more” than independent ones, and were less stressful to work at because more pharmacists were on duty.
“In the past, the business in the pharmacy was quite good.
“But at the moment it’s very challenging. It’s getting worse and worse.”
Roslyn Pharmacy owner Andrew Hou said he was not surprised to hear of a pharmacy shutting down.
Chain pharmacies were impacting both shop sales and staffing levels.
“You’ve got funding pressures on the dispensing side, you’ve got large chains impacting the retail side — it’s difficult, and then you take the current economic environment on top of that.”
Some smaller independent pharmacies in the city would struggle going forward as core dispensing would no longer be enough to fund them, Mr Hou said.
It would be difficult if dispensing was your main revenue stream, particularly for sole pharmacist pharmacies.
“Inflation has just gone berserk since Covid.
“If you’re only existing by yourself dispensing prescriptions, it would be incredibly difficult.”
