Jordan Hinton is expecting a hit to business once Chemist Warehouse opens its doors Cambridge.
The owner of three Unichem pharmacies in the town says they “can’t really compete” with the Chemist Warehouse discounts.
He hopes customers of up to 40 years will keep coming to him, because it’s “not just the medicine but we know who they are”.
“But there’s nothing much we can do about the prices that they are offering [at Chemist Warehouse], we just can’t compete with that on any level”.
Chemist Warehouse advertised for various roles earlier in May - retail, customer service, sales and shop assistants - at the “brand-new store in Cambridge”.
It’s not yet known when it’s due to open, as the company did not respond to a request for comment before deadline
Hinton couldn’t see why the pharmacy giant would open in Cambridge.
“Originally I think they got their licence based around free prescription and providing an option where people didn’t have to pay for that, but now that the Government’s removed the $5 charges, there isn’t really a niche for them.”
“It seems a bit odd because their model is based on volume and I wouldn’t have thought Cambridge, being a smaller place, that it has the volume to make them break even.
“But who knows?”
Hinton said most locals were against shopping at the Australian pharmacy company and would support local.
Just as people tended to have a general practitioner they stuck with, they were used to going to one pharmacy for a very long time, Hinton said.
“[The local pharmacies] know who you are as opposed to just being a prescription.
“We have people who have been coming to us for 20, 30 or 40 years.
“We know them for who they are and not just their medicine prescription, we know who they are in the community.”
Hinton said while the older population did not like to change their pharmacies, younger ones often did not need as much pharmaceutical care and were happy to go where it was most convenient or cheap.
“Just going to get a script of Panadol filled, it’s just a box of Panadol,” he said.
“But someone comes on with say 10 medications with comorbidities and problems with their hearts, they usually will stick with one pharmacy which knows their history and can track and help them manage that.”
Chemist Warehouse was contacted for comment, but did not respond before deadline.
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