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PHARMACY REFRESH Rules for remodeling your practice
W
hen your pharmacy first opened its doors, it was probably decked out with the era’s most stylish decor. But after two or
three decades, those once-stylish features may now read as dated and send the message to your patients that the practice is stuck in the past. You want your pharmacy’s look and feel to reflect the quality of care you provide. “You have to think about your customers’ experience when visiting your pharmacy. Do you want to look like a chain pharmacy, or are you trying to offer a friendlier, more welcoming environment?” said Christopher McClung, president and partner at Eclipse Brand Builders, a design-build firm based in Georgia. A remodel can help you keep up with the competition, and it communicates to your patients that your pharmacy is staying on the cutting edge of industry trends. This is especially important as the scope of retail pharmacy continues to expand. “An outdated look can be a determinant in customer apathy, especially when competitors have recently updated, and a remodel can rejuvenate customer excitement,” advised Bryon Muir, vice president of Knoebel Construction, which is based in the St. Louis area. Keep these tips in mind as you tackle your pharmacy remodeling project. WHY TO REMODEL As a pharmacist who works in the pharmacy space every single day, you may not notice ratty carpets or dinged fixtures. But your patients sure do. “I think retailers of all kinds need to visit their spaces with their customer glasses on,” McClung said. “They should try to experience their business as a customer would.” Think about what your space is telling patients, and if that message doesn’t line up with the message you want to send, it may be time for a remodel. Since there’s a significant investment involved with undertaking a remodel, it shouldn’t be done on a whim, but in order to stay competitive, your pharmacy will eventually have to make some updates. “One of these factors is making a market shift,” said Muir. “Several of our clients have decided to do that by taking a retail location and remodeling it into a hybrid of retail and service to compete more efficiently with the online market.” The landscape of pharmacy has changed rapidly over the last few years, and if you’re providing more clinical services than you have in the past, for example, you may want to remodel so your pharmacy can accommodate more than simple dispensing.
ELEMENTS | The business magazine for independent pharmacy | JUNE 2022
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