Pharmacy Daily | Drop in footfall hits CBD pharmacies

SOCIAL distancing measures combined with a significant increase in the number of people working remotely are hitting the bottom-lines of several pharmacies in CBDs across Australia, business experts report.

Speaking to Pharmacy Daily following unconfirmed reports that one discount group had closed a number of inner-city stores in Melbourne in response to the COVID-19 crisis, business consultant, Bruce Annabel, noted the fall in foot traffic in cities and shopping centres was hurting many pharmacies located in those areas.

"CBD pharmacies generally have been hit pretty hard," he said.

"They've lost huge proportions of their sales principally because they've lost the traffic, and the shopping centre pharmacies have also been hit hard due to a lack of traffic.

"The front of shop discretionary spend has been curtailed pretty significantly, as people turn their attention to buying the things that they need.

"From speaking with my clients who are in different states, that's exactly what they're finding, people are buying the precriptions, the over-the-counter medicines, the vitamins that help them with stress and help their health more generally, and the surgical and wound-care type of stuff... they're selling very little of that front of shop sundry stuff."

Annabel said pharmacy owners in CBD and shopping centre locations should consider scaling back the size of their stores with the view to cutting back on front of shop non-healthcare-related stock.

Melbourne-based Medici Capital Owner, Frank Sirianni, said the group had not seen evidence of mass CBD pharmacy closures, but noted some stores in the city were operating reduced hours, noting pedestrian traffic in the city has reported dropped by between 50 and 70% depending on the day.

"In most instances the trading hours have been reduced to match the trading hours of nearby major anchor tenants or landlord," he said.

Australian Pharmacy Group Managing Director, Rob Whelan, said he was unaware of any temporary closures in Melbourne, but noted "everything is changing on a daily basis as you know and, it would not surprise me to see temporary closures in the CBD and shopping centres", adding that brands with two or more stores in an area may look to consolidate on a temporary basis.