Major Australian pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse is entering the UK market through a joint venture with an “employee-owned pharmacy group” in England.
Parent company Sigma Healthcare announced on May 4 that it had signed an agreement with GreenLight Healthcare “that will see the Chemist Warehouse brand enter the UK market”.
It said GreenLight is “an employee-owned pharmacy group” that “currently has 22 stores in and around London”.
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“Sigma will acquire a 75% interest in a number of stores, with 25% continuing to be held by GreenLight,” it added.
The company said that under the joint venture, it will “license the Chemist Warehouse brand and intellectual property” and “provide retail support, including ranging, store layout, inventory management and marketing support”.
It added that GreenLight is set to provide “dispensary and professional services requirements and back-office support”.
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Sigma said both parties plan to “identify existing GreenLight pharmacies” and “where appropriate, develop or relocate these into Chemist Warehouse stores”.
Phase one of the partnership will “focus on rebranding and developing up to five stores”, it added, “with the option for more stores in phase two, should these prove successful”.
And it revealed that the first site to be rebranded under the deal will be on Hoxton Street in London.
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It comes after the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) revealed that a “large multiple” in Scotland has been “celebrating” its locum rates reaching “their lowest for eight years”.
The PDA told C+D that the multiple, which it declined to name, had highlighted the low locum rates as a “positive achievement” in recent management communications.
