Choosing the right spot for your independent pharmacy is a big deal, and not a decision you should take lightly.
As many real estate agents will tell you, a business’s success is all about location, location, location. The right location can be the difference between a successful business and a failed operation, so you want to make sure you think about all the essential real estate factors before you sign a lease.
If a pharmacy is for sale, there will be a reason why. Some reasons may be as straightforward as the owner wants to retire and move to the beach. But others may be more complex and have an impact on your opportunity to be successful. Below are several location considerations you should ponder as you’re picking the right place for your pharmacy.
Who Are Your Potential Customers?
Your potential pharmacy may offer the best of everything – top-notch customer service, extensive product selection, and killer prices – but if the local population doesn’t represent your target audience, then you probably won’t be open for long.
Think about the types of customers that require your products and services. Are you targeting an older community, or one with primarily growing families with children? Do you have experience servicing the needs of low-income communities or are you more familiar with more affluence?
You might not have the budget for extensive market research, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do your due diligence to understand your potential community and their needs. Research economic data such as family income to understand local purchasing power, talk with people in the community to learn what they want in a pharmacy, and dig into population demographics to determine if you and your business plans would be a good fit.
Who Will Make Up Your Pharmacy Team?
Does the location you’re considering draw the type of qualified talent you’ll need? Are there wholesalers, pharmacy software vendors, and suppliers for front-end OTC merchandise available nearby? A key to your pharmacy’s success will be your people and organizational partners.
The quality of service your pharmacy offers will largely depend on your workforce. Do you have access to the right people, with the right attitudes, skills and expertise to successfully deliver results? Depending on the local community you’ll be serving, do they need to have specific language skills to better serve their local customers?
While evaluating talent in a certain area may seem intimidating, there are resources available to help you make data-driven decisions. For example, if you are looking to add more pharmacists to your team, the Pharmacy Demand Report offers a measurement of pharmacist demand in the U.S.
