Pharmacies will face tough decisions

PHARMACY owners are likely to face difficult choices, including possibly closing their businesses in the coming months as the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and recession hit, Pharmacy Guild of Australia NSW Branch President, David Heffernan, believes.

Heffernan told Pharmacy Daily that many businesses were “hanging on” with JobKeeper, noting pharmacies in CBD, large shopping centres and airports, have been “hit hard” as a result of diminished foot traffic caused by the pandemic and associated lockdowns.

“The big issue with a small business is you sign leases - you don’t own the building,” he said.

“COVID has created a lot of changes, but the terms of your leases don’t shift.”

He said efforts by some pharmacy owners have seen landlords respond to requests to negotiate leases by saying they have to manage their costs just as pharmacies have been.

With JobKeeper set to run until Mar 2021, Heffernan described it as a “band-aid solution”, saying in the coming months “people will have to make difficult decisions and many will be looking at closing down”.

Speaking with Nine Entertainment publications, Pharmacy4Less CEO, and NSW Guild Branch Vice President Finance, Feras Karem, said the impact of COVID on a number of the group’s stores in Sydney, Chatswood and Parramatta has been “devastating”.

“We pay a high rent to be in high footfall areas and the footfall has disappeared,” he said.

MEANWHILE, Heffernan urged pharmacists who are struggling with the anxiety and stress of the COVID crisis to “reach out to a friend” or contact the Pharmacists’ Support Service.

“This is the time for people to band together,” he said.

“There’s been a lot of natural anguish in relation to this.”