The UK’s first LloydsPharmacy franchise store officially launched on Monday 2nd February in Gloucester.
Pharmacist and entrepreneur Andrew Lane has partnered with LloydsPharmacy’s parent company, Celesio to offer his patients and customers a service-led offering under the nationally known brand.
As well as adopting the LloydsPharmacy identity and business strategy, the store has been refurbished in line with Celesio’s distinctive European Pharmacy Network design creating a modern, fresh pharmacy environment. Celesio has already transformed more than 300 pharmacies in its own UK network to the service-led proposition and today’s opening marks the first independent to join the programme as part of a franchise agreement.
As a LloydsPharmacy, Andrew has access to the full suite of LloydsPharmacy health service training for his team, providing them with the opportunity to offer free, enhanced health services for a range of conditions including skin health, pain management and smoking cessation as well as Type 2 diabetes screening and blood pressure monitoring to their local customers and patients. He’ll also be able to offer the independent living range from Betterlife from LloydsPharmacy.
Andrew Lane commented: “I am very pleased to be joining LloydsPharmacy. I truly believe through the franchise initiative we will be able to deliver more benefits and health services to the local community we currently serve, supporting patients’ health and wellbeing needs by combining our experience and local knowledge with the services and expertise from LloydsPharmacy.
“I look forward to working with and seeing how being a part of LloydsPharmacy will grow and develop my pharmacy by enhancing the services we can deliver to local customers and patients.”
Nigel Swift, Marketing and Sales Director at Celesio UK, said: “The launch of the first LloydsPharmacy franchise store is a very exciting time for us. We have spoken to a lot of pharmacy entrepreneurs about what they’d like us to offer and created a compelling proposition, including complete end-to-end solutions, welcoming independent pharmacies into the LloydsPharmacy brand.
“The new franchise will benefit from access to our vast expertise and capabilities, comprising a number of LloydsPharmacy support services which include HR provision, IT infrastructure, pharmacy and retail standard operating procedures, store design and category management.”
Celesio announced the opportunity for independent pharmacies to become a full franchisee of LloydsPharmacy when launching the AAH Pharmaceutical Careway partnership; an initiative which allows independent pharmacies to develop an enhanced service offering by combining the best aspects of Celesio’s European Pharmacy Network concept with their own independent identity. The first independent pharmacy to benefit from the new Careway partnership opened its doors in Harrogate during August 2014, with five more Careway pharmacies now open.
Nigel Swift added: “With the option of becoming a Careway partner or a full LloydsPharmacy franchise, we are able to offer innovative solutions to independent pharmacies with a whole host of benefits that can be tailored to their specific needs.”
