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PHARMACY STAFF HAVE BEEN ACTING AS PERSONAL SHOPPERS FOR CUSTOMERS AS DEMAND SWITCHES FROM MEDICAL TO BEAUTY, WRITES
IN WHAT can be seen as a return to some kind of normal, pharmacies are seeing people coming in for more every day, non Covid-19 related products.
The sight of people queuing up outside pharmacies across the district has become commonplace, normal even, over recent months.
Hair dye, scissors, sun cream and beauty products are being sold as soon as they hit the shelves in some pharmacies across the district.
At McCauley Pharmacy in New Ross, the 14 staff there are finding a welcome return to normalcy.
Pharmacy manager Kathleen Heffernan said: ‘ Last week everything really went back. People have been looking forward to seeing normal things back on the shelves and we’ve been selling a lot of suncream and hayfever products.’
Describing the arrival of Covid-19 in March, when the winter flu was still in the community, as a ‘double whammy’, Kathleen said at that time Calpol, Neurofen and paracetamol were all very popular.
‘ That levelled out after four weeks once the initial rush went away. After four weeks people were coming in for prescriptions and essentials. Over the last ten days, people are back trying beauty products and buying moisturisers. People are starting to think it’s OK.’
Face masks are selling fast, as are gloves and hand sanitiser, but not to the same degree as in March and April.
‘ These are things people are going to continually be using going forward even though face masks and hand sanitiser are not compulsory.’
Kathleen said staff have been ‘a different kind of busy’.
‘ Things were flipped on their head and there has been a lot of extra work. People come in and pick things normally but that changed during Covid. You are literally on the phone all of the time because people are calling. We became their personal shopper. For one sale there could be three or four calls. We had to just go with whatever was required.’
Staff work schedules had to change.
At Campile Allcare Pharmacy Teresa Keating said there has been an upsurge in business during Covid-19, in part arising from people working from home and getting prescriptions for family members in their local pharmacy and not in the towns and city they commute to.
Teresa said such is the popularity of hand sanitiser and face masks that it’s like lipstick in a woman’s bag these days.
She said in the early days of Covid-19, child and adolescent medicines and paracetamol based products were very popular.
‘We sold a lot of over the counter stuff. Hand sanitiser, wipes, anything with antiseptic was very popular. We would run out of these within a week and then you had to wait for deliveries. and moisturising creams, disposable face masks we can get fairly handy. I would say they are going to be part of our daily routine going forward.’
She said staff have seen faces of people they hadn’t seen in years as they are at home 24/7 during Covid-19 and call in to collect prescriptions for their parents, grandparents, etc.
People call in advance and are greeted at the door by staff with their items. Vitamin D and Vitamin C are among the main items being sold.
‘Customers want to stay well. In the beginning they were buying multiple packs of Neurofen and Paracetamol. They could only get one month’s medication.’
She said: ‘ The phones are hopping but a lot of people have been very good as well. I will be happy when I can get customers back in my shop. They have been increasingly looking for beauty creams, hair colours, which we can’t keep in stock, scissors – we sold 50 in a week and we couldn’t get our hands on head shavers.’
Paul Tinch is Operations Group Manager at Life Pharmacy chain, which has a branch on South Street, New Ross, and he said he has never seen anything like the way one thing can affect business.
‘Hand sanitiser was top of the list of products people wanted for a long time. That has calmed down a lot. Now we find people are paying a lot more attention to their own regular medication whereas before they wouldn’t have been as diligent. People are looking after themselves a bit better.’
He said Covid related accessories like face masks are becoming more popular.
‘ They are a bit expensive. We have face masks in stock. I think the next big shortage will be gloves, which, we are told, seems to be an upcoming issue.’
Paul said the sale of Vitamin C tablets and products has been robust.
Overall, things have calmed down significantly over the past fortnight, he said.
‘We were closed to people [coming in] up until last week. Throughout April and May, we were being asked for hair dryers, head and beard shaving
The arrival of Covid-19 in Ireland has seen people turn their minds to the most positive of thoughts – the creation of life! – and pharmacies across the district have seen a big demand for pregnancy test kits over recent months.
South West Wexford is set for something of a Corona baby boom if soaring sales of pregnancy test kits reported by at least three pharmacies is anything to go by. clippers, hair dyes. It’s still there but not as much. I’m sure there are a lot of women saying they can’t wait to get their hair done. Over the last week more and more women are coming in to buy make up.’
Pharmacist at Fethard-onSea Pharmacy, Diarmuid Duggan said customers are back buying ‘normal stuff ’ like sun
Kathleen Heffernan has worked in McCauley’s chemists in New Ross for many years and says whenever an emergency situation like a winter storm occurs, and in this case a global pandemic, sales of pregnancy test kits and condoms soar.
‘This always happens in times like this. People are trying to find a new normal and you have to keep yourself occupied. Condoms and gels were very popular early on cream and the sale of gloves has fallen off.
Having sold many bottles of hand sanitizer, gloves and masks in the first weeks of Covid-19, these purchases have petered away.
‘It has been busier. We’ve also had some people in who have been stuck here [due to Covid-19].’ in this. Once they knew they were safe and didn’t have to social distance [from their partner]. A lot of them were waiting to hear it was OK and then they were happy out.’
Paul Tinch is Operations Group Manager at Life Pharmacy chain said the sale of pregnancy test kits has increased.
Fethard-on-Sea Pharmacy and Campile Pharmacy have also seen an increase in pregnancy kits sales.