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John Saywell: Independent Pharmacy Group co-founder on Chemist Warehouse planning to double their sites · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: Now, if you thought chemist warehouses were everywhere already, you
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  Speaker 2: would be wrong. They actually are planning to double their
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  Speaker 2: stores here within a decade, and they lobbying the government
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  Speaker 2: for help to do so. John Saywell is the co
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  Speaker 2: founder of the Independent Pharmacy Group and.
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  Speaker 3: Is with us. Hi John, Hello, how are you going?
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  Speaker 2: Very well? Thank you. We've got this old debate obviously
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  Speaker 2: of the old local pharmacy versus the big box guy.
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  Speaker 2: Is this a good idea to have so many chemist warehouses?
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  Speaker 3: Well, our members are pretty keen on keeping their high
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  Speaker 3: trust model with higher service levels, and they're a lot smaller.
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  Speaker 3: So the bigger the corporate chains get, the harder it
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  Speaker 3: is for our independent owner operated pharmacies to stay afloat
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  Speaker 3: and compete.
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  Speaker 2: What is it that these kinds, What is it that
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  Speaker 2: these guys do to drive you guys out of business?
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  Speaker 3: Well, not only are they taking up a lot of
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  Speaker 3: the staff and putting pressure on the health staff that
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  Speaker 3: are needed in the dispensaries, but they're using their discounts
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  Speaker 3: as a lost leader in their dispensary to grow their
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  Speaker 3: retail foot traffic, and that just takes market share off
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  Speaker 3: everyone else, which is the local owner operated pharmacies.
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  Speaker 2: And the local owner owner operated pharmacies cannot compete, can they.
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  Speaker 3: Well, they certainly can't discount the co payment on prescriptions.
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  Speaker 3: That would put them out of business, whereas the big
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  Speaker 3: corporates are prepared to do that because they're driving foot
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  Speaker 3: traffic into their retail stores. John.
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  Speaker 2: From a consumer perspective, though, isn't it better? Like aren't
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  Speaker 2: we better off as consumers if we have the big
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  Speaker 2: yellow guys around because we can get stuff for free
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  Speaker 2: and for cheap.
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  Speaker 3: Bigger and cheaper isn't always better? And in healthcare, it's
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  Speaker 3: a good idea to keep the business interests separate from
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  Speaker 3: the care and the owner operated pharmacists really care for
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  Speaker 3: their communities, which is a big point of difference, but
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  Speaker 3: they need a sustainable business model as well.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, And a fair point that you make is, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: we all love community, but these guys in the yellow
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  Speaker 2: the yellow buildings still have pharmacists, right, so if you
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  Speaker 2: need care, you're still going to get it.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, But our local undoperated pharmacy members are focused on
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  Speaker 3: a small range of health care products and services, and
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  Speaker 3: it's that local personal service that makes a difference in
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  Speaker 3: family healthcare. Some of our guys and girls that own
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  Speaker 3: the pharmacies are in their communities for twenty thirty forty
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  Speaker 3: years looking after families and intergenerational health care. So those
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  Speaker 3: things matter. And as I say, bigger isn't always better.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, John, thank you as always really appreciated. John Saywell,
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  Speaker 2: Independent Pharmacy Group co founded.
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